The Rise of Darkrai: The Novel
by Storm Aurastar
Summary: A raging war… An unlikely hero… A tragic death… Somewhere between time and space, a legend is born. Join Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and Brock on their epic Pokémon adventure in Alamos Town! An amateur novelization of the tenth Pokémon movie, written especially for those who were unable to see/find it. My first fanfic! R&R! COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**Storm:** Hello hello hello! Welcome to my first Fanfiction! _*grins*_

**Dialga:** Featuring—

**Palkia:** Oi! _Do not say what's going to happen!_

**Dialga:** Can't I at least say the names of the story's stars? After all, the movie's summary says our names.

**Palkia:** _*grumbling*_ Fine, fine…

**Dialga:** Ahem. All right! Welcome to Storm Aurastar's first Fanfiction, _The Rise of Darkrai_! Featuring I, Dialga—

**Palkia:** —And I, Palkia—

**Darkrai:** —And I, Darkrai.

**Storm:** I'd greatly appreciate it if I have lots of reviews! And here's the prologue. Enjoy! By the way, here's the disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

In the world of Pokémon, people who train and travel with Pokémon partners swarm the lands by the hundreds. These people are called Pokémon Trainers.

Every Trainer's goal is to become the greatest Pokémon master in the world, armed with the most powerful Pokémon they could lay their hands on. One particular group of three young Trainers are on their way toward that goal.

Their names are Ash, Dawn, and Brock. They had been traveling throughout distant lands—and beyond—ever since they had received their very first Pokémon partners.

Dawn was a Pokémon Coordinator to-be. She aimed to be a Top Coordinator, just like her mother.

Brock was training to be a Pokémon Breeder, which meant he must know a _lot_ about Pokémon. Since he was the oldest, he gave many helpful tips to his friends as they battled.

Ash was an ambitious Trainer from Pallet Town. He journeyed from here to there with his partner and best friend Pikachu, defeating gym leaders, earning badges, and meeting several rare and powerful Pokémon, called Legendary Pokémon. So far, he and his friends had encountered:

Mew and its clone, Mewtwo, who had wanted a world of Pokémon and no humans (it later changed its mind after Ash proved that humans and Pokémon can live together in peace by sacrificing himself and getting revived by the Pokémon's tears);

Lugia, along with the Legendary Bird Trio of the Kanto region—Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres—when the world was threatened by ferocious storms;

An illusionary Entei, who was served as the temporary father of Molly Hale, who had lost her father to the mysterious Unown;

Celebi, who had come from forty years in the past, along with a boy called Sam (who turned out to be none other than Professor Oak from his boyhood), and was being tracked down by a Pokémon Hunter whose plans were soon thwarted by Ash and his friends and a Pokémon called Suicune;

The guardians of Alto Mare, Latias and Latios, who were nearly killed by two Team Rocket spies (and unfortunately, Latios _did_ die, but he did it to save the city from a wall of water that destroyed everything in its path);

Jirachi, a Pokémon who had woken up from a deep slumber of a thousand years and helped Ash and his destroy a fake, monstrous Groudon;

The foreign Pokémon Deoxys, who had come from outer space and was searching for its companion—another Deoxys—and had a conflict with Rayquaza that had gone on for four years;

Lucario, who wasn't a Legendary Pokémon but was nevertheless quite legendary—in a different way—and once again, Mew, and the Golem Trio—Regirock, Regice, and Registeel;

And in their most recent adventure, they encountered a Manaphy and rightfully sent it back to the ocean, where they met Kyogre.

Now, Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and Brock are setting out for the Sinnoh region.

Mysteries await them. And who knew that this adventure would be the greatest one ever in their lives…

-ooo-

The world of Pokémon is located within a dimension.

Yet there are more dimensions.

Two of these foreign dimensions had collided…when they weren't supposed to.

And something was going on.

Something extremely destructive.

-ooo-

Shadows flitted everywhere. Smoky gray clouds swirled through the air. Streaks of lightning flashed in the sky.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion deep within the dimension. Thousands of swarming Unown fled—all for the same reason.

The gray clouds parted to reveal two colossal Pokémon facing each other.

And they were in the midst of a battle.

The two Pokémon glared at each other, hatred filling their glowing, red eyes. Both of them prepared to fight and be victorious…

-ooo-

"'Two entities that never should have met crossed paths in the space-time rift… This ill-fated meeting has brought forward their unrivaled wrath enveloping the city, and as a result, all is collapsing.

"'What could be the true meaning of this horrible nightmare?'"

The young scientist finished reading the words and leaned forward in his chair. "Godey's diary, huh?" he remarked. "What an interesting find!" He shut the diary, and a cloud of dust puffed out, making him cough.

Just then, there was a strange grinding sound in the room.

An hourglass on a desk had started to move all by itself!

At the same time, the computer on the scientist's desk beeped a warning call. It had detected something strange… Waves of powerful energy were surging through the town!

The scientist bent down toward his beeping computer and gasped at the readings.

The hourglass behind him finally tipped over…and fell in slow motion.

-ooo-

Meanwhile, far away in the foreign dimension…

_"PARURURURURU!"_ the pink Pokémon roared.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ the blue Pokémon bellowed.

Then each of them rammed into its opponent with a forceful crash.

Lightning flashed! Thunder boomed! Powerful waves flew out from the crash. The two Pokémon flew back and separated.

Then the pink Pokémon held its hands together, forming a glowing, pink energy ball—Aura Sphere—within them. The Pokémon threw the Aura Sphere at the blue Pokémon, resulting in a humongous _boom_ and a cloud of foul black smoke.

Rearing up in anger, the blue Pokémon retaliated by opening its mouth and sending a huge beam of orange fire at the pink Pokémon—a Hyper Beam attack! Quickly, the pink Pokémon protected itself with a pinkish sphere. The blue Pokémon's Hyper Beam slammed into the sphere and exploded! The pink Pokémon winced when the move smashed onto its sphere.

But it wasn't finished yet. Roaring, the blue Pokémon created a shadowy aura on its forehead. Then it summoned a barrage of glowing meteors that all shot down at the pink Pokémon.

Draco Meteor!

The pink Pokémon saw the coming danger, and it let loose another Aura Sphere right before the Draco Meteors crashed into it.

Looking away, the blue Pokémon was hit by the pink Pokémon's attack. Smoke covered it and it reeled back with pain.

Just then, the pink Pokémon's pearls on its shoulders began to glow with a bright, pink light. _"PARURURURURU!"_ it bellowed, and it raised its right arm, absorbing particles of pink energy. Then it swung its arm down, releasing a huge pink crescent of spatial power which shot straight for the blue Pokémon.

Sensing no way of escape, the blue Pokémon shielded itself with a bluish sphere. The crescent rammed into it and exploded on the impact.

Injured, the blue Pokémon furiously roared, _"DIAAAAAAAAAA!"_ The diamond on its chest began to glow brightly with a blue light. The fan on the Pokémon's back extended, and it opened its mouth and absorbed swirling blue and white energy particles. Then it let out a gigantic bluish-indigo beam of temporal power.

The pink Pokémon tried to lessen the damage by allowing the move crash right onto its left pearl.

The results were destructive. Waves of power surged through the black, lightning-filled dimension. Once again, a mass of thousands of Unown flew away from the scene.

Growling with satisfaction, the blue Pokémon watched its opponent writhe in pain as the fan on its back shrunk back to its normal size.

Things were not going as well for the pink Pokémon, though. The impact of its opponent's attack had created a crack that ran right through its left pearl. It flickered faintly and died out.

Outraged by its wound, the pink Pokémon roared as loud as it could and turned to face the blue Pokémon.

The blue Pokémon responded by attacking with a second Hyper Beam.

The pink Pokémon spread its wings and took off into the air, evading the attack. Then it suddenly turned back, flew behind the blue Pokémon, and used a third pink ball of energy, which the blue Pokémon narrowly dodged.

Right after the pink energy ball had flown out of sight, the blue Pokémon countered with yet another orange beam. Quickly, the pink Pokémon ducked under it and fled, roaring. Enraged by the pink Pokémon's cowardly nature, the blue Pokémon followed it, closely in pursuit.

In the distance, the pink Pokémon's roar could be heard… There was another titanic explosion, only it was more powerful than the last…

-ooo-

In the young scientist's room, the hourglass fell through the air and shattered with an earsplitting crash.

* * *

><p><strong>Darkrai:<strong> Oh, joy. A cliffhanger ending. _*sigh*_

**Storm:** Don't forget, there's still much more to go…

**Dialga:** I can't wait.

**Palkia:** I agree. When is Chapter 1 coming?

**Storm:** Soon… In fact, maybe in an hour or so…

**Darkrai:** What? You'll be updating the first chapter on the same day as you updated the prologue…in other words, _today_?

**Storm:** Sure. Why not? _I_ can't wait. So… Hey, readers—just wait! Chapter 1 coming to you…soon! Well, I hope.


	2. Onward to Alamos Town

**Storm:** Okay, I have decided that I will update a new chapter of _The Rise of Darkrai_ every Saturday, if all goes well.

**Dialga:** Er… "If all goes well?"

**Storm:** _*blush*_ Well, if I've got some stuff to do…or if there is an emergency or something… Heh-heh…

**Palkia:** Come on! When will we come in?

**Storm:** Shut up. No spoilers allowed.

**Palkia:** Awww…

**Darkrai:** When will _I_ be introduced?

**Storm:** Soon.

**Darkrai:** How soon?

**Storm:** Shut up. On with the show—or, in this case—on with the story.

**Dialga:** Disclaimer: Storm does not own Pokémon.

**Palkia:** _*grinning*_ Even though he's a Pokémon himself.

**Storm:** Shut up.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Onward to Alamos Town<strong>

It was a sunny day. Three young Pokémon Trainers strolled along a wide dirt path, continuing with their journey. Ash carried his backpack while his Pikachu, a small, yellow Electric-type Pokémon with a tail shaped like a lightning bolt and two red cheeks, perched on his head. Dawn and Brock, who also had a backpack, followed after Ash. All three of them quested for excitement, and the next destination to quench their excitement was the Pokémon Contest located at Alamos Town.

"Shouldn't we have gotten there by now?" Dawn asked Brock.

Brock, who was reading a guidebook about Alamos Town, replied, "Almost."

Two seconds later, he looked up and said, "And there it is! Alamos Town, right over that hill."

Ash leaped into the air and cheered. "Yeah!" He raced ahead, followed by Dawn.

"I bet you as soon as we get there, we'll find some great battles!" Ash yelled.

_"Pikachu!"_ his Pokémon agreed happily.

Dawn caught up with Ash. "I've got to get ready for the contest!" she exclaimed. "So many dresses to wear and so little time!" She giggled.

Then Ash frowned as he ran. "Huh? Hold on!"

Dawn looked ahead and gasped with amazement. She and Ash ran faster and skidded to a halt, gaping at the view ahead.

Brock ran up and gasped at it, too.

Alamos Town was built high on a plateau! The gang had reached the end of the path—which led straight to the edge of a cliff with water below!

Brock turned his guidebook this way and that, puzzled. "Hmm… It looks like we're on the wrong shore," he said.

Ash was stunned. "Huh?"

_"Pika!"_ exclaimed Pikachu.

Dawn flopped down. "And I'm _exhausted_," she groaned.

Then Ash did the same. "Ugh… Me, too." Pikachu's ears drooped as it collapsed with its Trainer.

"Would you all like a lift?" a voice called called.

Ash turned his head left and right, looking for the person. Pikachu looked up and pointed. _"Pika!"_

The gang all looked at where Pikachu was pointing…and gasped.

A green and yellow hot-air balloon was hovering above them, getting ready to land. When Brock saw who was standing in the basket, his mouth fell open as he grinned hugely. "Oh… _Ah…_"

A young woman waved at Ash and his friends from the basket. Clinging onto one of the balloon's poles was a Chimchar, small, orange Fire-type Pokémon with a small flame on its back. It was well known to be very playful.

"Hi, there!" said the woman.

_"Chimchar!"_ her Pokémon added.

Soon, the three Trainers were in the basket with the woman, watching a flock of three Pelipper—white and blue Water-and Flying-type Pokémon with large beaks—fly below them. Of course, Brock was blushing madly and wooing her, like what he always did to beautiful women.

"We can't thank you enough for your kindness!" he cried happily, turning red with embarrassment. Behind him, Ash, and Dawn looked at each other with strange looks on their faces. "So my name here is Brock. Would you honor us by telling your name?" he asked eagerly.

"My name's Alice," said the woman.

Brock was thrilled. "So it's Alice! From Alamos Town!" He suddenly ducked down, dug around, and shot back up with a book. It wasn't the guidebook. It was his notebook of beautiful women he had met during previous adventures.

"I can't believe I don't have you written down in my little blue book of faves," he groaned in a dismayed voice as he leafed through the pages. "Silly me… Ugh!" He collapsed. "I'm such a _dummy_!"

Curiously, Ash, Pikachu, and Dawn peered down at him.

Then Brock leaped back up with the book in his face. "Then there's only one thing to do," he declared. "Let me take you out—_aagh_!"

Brock's Croagunk, a Poison- and Fighting-type Pokémon with two orange cheeks and a mouth that grinned continuously, had somehow burst out of its Poké Ball and assaulted him with a Poison Jab.

"Ow… That hurts…" He sank to the bottom of the basket. "Croagunk takes me out…" And he fainted.

Croagunk grinned. _"Croagunk."_

Alice looked at the fallen Brock with a confused expression, while Ash and his friends laughed nervously.

_"Pika,"_ said Pikachu sheepishly.

Then Dawn decided to change the subject. "Now, my name's Dawn. I'm entering the Alamos Town Pokémon contest!"

"Hi, I'm Ash," greeted Ash. He turned to look at Pikachu. "And this is my partner, Pikachu!"

_"Pikachu!"_ it squeaked.

Chimchar breathed a plume of fire into the balloon to make it fly higher. _"Chaaaaar!"_

The hot-air balloon picked up speed and flew faster toward the town.

Ash looked down at the water below them. "Awesome, we're really moving!"

"What a pretty lake," Dawn added.

All of a sudden, Brock jumped back up, fully recovered from Croagunk's attack. "Definitely not as pretty as Alice!" he declared.

"You're quick," Ash remarked. Croagunk's Poison Jab was one powerful move, he knew. But how did Brock get past it so fast?

"He's used to it," sighed Dawn.

"_Pika,"_ added Ash's Pokémon.

_So _that's_ how he recovered so quickly,_ Ash thought.

Alice smiled, despite the awkward moment. "Well, I work part-time as a hot-air balloon tour guide. But I also spend most of my time as a music student." She took a leaf out of her pocket and put it on her lips.

"A leaf whistle?" said Dawn.

Alice started to play a soothing song on the leaf whistle. The three Trainers all gasped and listened.

The flock of Pelipper flew over to the balloon. A flock of Pidgey, which were small Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon, joined them, led by a Pidgeotto—the second evolution of Pidgey.

_"Pidgeotto!"_ it chirped to Alice as it flew. Alice responded by continuing the song.

_"Pidgeotto!"_ The Pokémon soared away with the Pidgey. The three Pelipper followed them in the same direction.

Ash gasped. "Aw…"

"You see, the Pokémon are showing me which way the wind's blowing," Alice explained, pocketing her leaf whistle. Then she looked up. "Okay, Chimchar!"

Chimchar nodded. It let out another Flamethrower, just as Pikachu clambered up to join it.

_"Pika!"_ greeted Pikachu.

Chimchar performed a happy backflip. _"Chimchar!"_ It waved back at its new friend.

Pikachu grinned. _"Pikachu!"_

The yellow and green hot-air balloon sailed through the air toward Alamos Town. Passing Alice and the Trainers were three Pokémon that looked like small lavender balloons with yellow X's on their faces and white fluffs on their heads. Leading them was a larger balloon-like Pokémon that was a darker shade of purple with a yellow X on its face and a white bunch of fluff on its head that was holding a piece of equipment of some sort. The four Pokémon floated up and up…where another hot-air balloon was.

The balloon, which was shaped like a Grass-type Pokémon called Carnivine, had two people and one Pokémon sitting in the basket.

It was Team Rocket, a trio of Pokémon thieves. The team consisted of Jessie, James, and their talking Pokémon, Meowth—a Normal-type with large eyes, a coin on its head, and a curly tail. Right now, though, they were busy looking at the Drifloon and the Drifblim through their binoculars.

"Say, this balloon thing is catching on!" exclaimed James.

"Like we're gonna catch Pikachu!" added Meowth.

Then one of the small balloon-like Pokémon floated up to hover next to Jessie, startling her and causing her to drop her binoculars.

_"Floon,"_ it said. Jessie stumbled back with surprise. The two other "balloons" and the big "balloon" flew over to watch.

"Wha… More balloons?" Jessie asked, staring at the four Pokémon.

Meowth recognized them. "Three Drifloon an' a Drifblim!"

Jessie grinned. "Oho, they're so round and cute!" She turned around. "Say, I think they want us to take them for a walk!" When she turned back, a net was in her hands. She leaned over and started to swat at the Drifloon that had flown into her face.

"Come…to…Jessie…" She huffed and puffed as she swung the net at the Drifloon, who was dodging every swing with ease. Jesse jabbed at it with the pole side of the net. "Would you _please_ stop playing with us again?" Finally, she gave up.

Suddenly, the Drifblim angrily puffed itself up. The three Drifloon did the same.

James and Meowth grew nervous at the sight. "Uh…"

"What did _I_ do?" asked Jessie indignantly.

"Same thing we always do!" replied Meowth, looking away from the angry Pokémon.

James tried to calm them down. "It's okay now, just a little…you know, some way to stop that swelling!" He grinned reassuringly.

Just then, a Poké Ball bounced out onto the bottom of the balloon's basket, and out came Jessie's big, blue Psychic-type Pokémon—Wobbuffet.

_"Wobbuffet!"_ it announced.

But nothing could settle down the Drifblim and the three Drifloon. Swelling larger than ever, their bodies glowed with a faint blue light. Then a vortex of whirling air suddenly erupted from within them.

_"WAAAH!"_ yelled Team Rocket as the tornado surrounded their balloon.

"They blasted us with Gust!" screeched Meowth.

That was when Team Rocket realized their mistake. They panicked, wildly waving their arms and legs as if they could fly.

But they couldn't.

"Team Rocket's blasting off _agaaaaaain_!"

And they were thrown up and up and up into the sky.

And they disappeared.

-ooo-

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Brock, and Alice had not noticed Team Rocket getting gusted away into the air. They were gazing at the beautiful town below.

"Look at those towers!" exclaimed Dawn.

"The Space-Time Towers," said Alice.

Brock checked the Alamos Town guidebook. "Here, listen to this. 'The brilliant architect Godey designed the Space-Time Towers one hundred years ago,'" he read aloud.

Alice nodded. "And that's where we hold our Pokémon Contest, Dawn."

"Oh, _wow_!" she breathed.

Ash was amazed. "One hundred _years_," he said, counting his fingers. "That's, like, ten years t—"

"Times ten," Dawn finished for him, looking at him strangely.

Ash grinned sheepishly. "Uh, you're right."

Pikachu sighed. _"Pika…"_

Brock looked at the guidebook again. "Let's see, it explains why they're called 'Space-Time'. The tower on the right represents time, and the one on the left represents space."

Ash peered down to look at the Space-Time Towers. "Hey, I could've told you that!"

Pikachu suddenly looked wary. It lifted its head and peeked up.

A flock of Pidgey was being pushed by a strong gust of wind. Then the balloon began to rock violently back and forth.

_"WAAAH!"_ yelped Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Alice. They clutched onto the basket's edges as tightly as they could.

_"Pikachu!"_ cried Pikachu. It tumbled off Ash's hat and onto the floor of the basket.

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in the scientist's room, the computer picked up a strange force that was surging through Alamos Town at dangerously high levels. It beeped its warning call, and the scientist tapped some buttons.

"Powerful forces…colliding with each other," he muttered. "Something big's going on…" He ran out of his office.

On the computer's screen, it showed the energy heaving through the town… Then they gradually died away.

-ooo-

Back in Alice's hot-air balloon, everyone was silent with shock. Then Alice, trembling with worry, asked, "Is everybody okay?"

"Yeah," the three Trainers replied shakily.

_"Pika."_

"What _was_ that?" wondered Brock.

"I suppose it _could_ have been the air currents," Alice guessed. "It sure was strange… Sorry if you guys got scared." Then she gave a small smile. "I know what—I'll give you the grand tour!"

Everyone cheered.

"Yeah!" said Brock.

"Yes!" agreed Dawn.

"That'll be _great_!" Ash exclaimed.

_"Pika!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> Oooh! Who can guess what just happened?

**Darkrai:** What, the wind?

**Storm:** _*nods*_

**Dialga:** I know exactly what it was! It was—

_Storm dives toward Dialga and covers his mouth._

**Storm:** Hey! Remember what I told Palkia? _No spoilers allowed._

**Dialga:** Mmmfl mmf!

**Palkia:** Right. Now what?

**Storm:** We wait one week and when it's Saturday, June 18, I'll post the second chapter.

**Darkrai:** Another week of waiting. Oh, joy.

**Storm:** Shut. Up. Before. I. Get. Hoarse.

**Dialga and Palkia:** Get some medicine, then.

**Storm:** SHUT UP! NOW!

**Darkrai:** Well. "Now" really _is_ Storm's favorite word. _*sigh*_

**Storm:** Anyway, see you readers next Saturday!


	3. Darkrai Appears

**Storm:** And it's Saturday at last! Here is Chapter 2!

**Palkia:** Disclaimer: Storm Aurastar does not own Pokémon.

**Darkrai:** Though he is one himself.

**Dialga:** Uh, doesn't Storm get annoyed by that comment?

**Storm:** Yes, he does. And he is going to start beating Palkia and Darkrai on the heads for saying that.

**Palkia and Darkrai:** _*sweatdrop*_ Uh-oh.

**Dialga:** Er, before this event of violence occurs, how about getting on with the story? Once again, here is Chapter 2, and please enjoy!

**Storm:** By the way, before I go play Chase, stuff in _italics_ are flashbacks. Now, if you'll please excuse me…

_Storm dashes off and begins to pursue Palkia and Darkrai while threatening to bang their heads with a frying pan._

**Dialga:** …Wha…?

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Darkrai Appears<strong>

_Bam!_ A Steel- and Psychic-type Bronzor and a Ground-type Gible collided into each other. As they backed away to attack again, their Trainers urged them on.

Overhead, a butterfly-like Bug- and Flying-type Pokémon called Beautifly flew in the air. A man and his Chimecho—a white wind chime-like Psychic-type Pokémon—watched it fly past their house's window.

The three Pokémon Trainers, led by Alice, walked through the bustling town. They passed more Trainers, some people taking a stroll, and many little shops.

Then they came upon a vendor selling some cotton candy to a mother and her daughter. Happily, the little girl accepted it and started to eat.

Alice walked to the cotton candy shop and turned to face the Trainers. Smiling, she gestured them to it. Of course, they nodded vigorously.

Soon, every one of them—even Pikachu—had their faces buried in the sweet, soft treat. They ate away, and Pikachu grinned at Ash with its face covered with bits of pink fluff. Alice shared hers with Chimchar.

Ash quickly wolfed down his cotton candy in three bites. Then, seeing that Brock was once again distracted by Alice's beauty with his candy still uneaten, he leaned over and swallowed his. He snorted with amusement when he saw Brock chomp down on his empty stick and irritatingly look at him.

Ash laughed and sped away with Pikachu bouncing up and down on his head. "See you, Brock!" he yelled, waving.

Just then, he crashed into something hard and sturdy. Reeling back with dizziness, he shook his head a few times and gaped at the "obstacle."

It was a Torterra!

Torterra was a Grass- and Ground-type Pokémon. It looked like a giant tortoise whose shell had a tree and two tall rocks that looked like a couple of small mountains on it.

_"Torterra,"_ it said in a rumbling voice.

Pikachu jumped off Ash and landed on Torterra's back. _"Pikachu!"_ it said.

Torterra's Trainer, a boy with messy brown hair who wore an unbuttoned white shirt with a blue shirt underneath and blue jeans, smiled at Ash. "Hey," he said. "I'm Maury. You seem pretty eager for a battle! So does my Torterra. Right?"

_"Torterra!"_

Maury gave it a thumbs-up sign. "All right!" He turned to Ash. "Want to battle?"

Ash nodded. "Of course! The name's Ash, nice to meet you!"

Dawn, Brock, and Alice caught up with Ash. They were still in the middle of eating their cotton candy (except Brock, of course) when they saw Ash's Pikachu facing Maury's Torterra. They grinned when Maury waved at them.

Then two more Trainers, an older boy and a girl, joined Maury. The girl held a Poké Ball in her hand.

And the battle began!

"Pikachu!" shouted Ash. "Use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked. Then, with a loud crackle, a powerful bolt of electricity burst out of Pikachu's body and shocked Torterra.

"Yeah!" cheered Ash when his Pokémon's attack struck its opponent. Behind him, Alice and Chimchar watched the battle.

Pikachu landed on its feet and grinned. Then its smile turned upside down when it saw that its attack hadn't harmed Torterra at all!

Maury laughed. "My Torterra's a Ground-type, Ash!" he shouted at him. "Don't forget that! All right, Torterra, use Seed Bomb!"

Torterra opened its mouth. Glowing white seeds hurtled out and flew toward Pikachu like bombarding bullets.

Pikachu jumped up, leaned back, rolled over, ducked, sidestepped, and performed every other trick of evasion it knew to dodge all the seeds.

"Iron Tail!" called out Ash.

As Pikachu dashed toward Torterra, its tail began to glow with a white light. Then it leaped up, twirled around, and slammed its iron-hard tail onto Torterra's back.

Ash shot his fist into the air. "Yeah! All right!"

Pikachu did a backflip in midair, landed lightly on the ground, and carefully watched for an attack from its opponent.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the square, Dawn's Piplup, a small penguin-like Water-type Pokémon with a little beak and a blue "cape" on its back, was facing the other boy, who was called Kai. His Empoleon, a much larger penguin-like Water- and Steel-type Pokémon that was the third and last evolution of Piplup, looked down at its tiny opponent.

The two Water-types began by exchanging tough looks. Empoleon proudly puffed out its chest, and Piplup tried to do the same. But it leaned too far back, and it rolled backward over onto the ground. Empoleon frowned and peered down at it.

In the center of the square, Brock's Croagunk was up against the girl, whose name was Allegra. She had sent out her Infernape, a monkey-like Fire- and Fighting-type Pokémon that was the third and last evolution of Chimchar, to fight Croagunk.

Croagunk was jabbing at Infernape with its Poison Jab attack, but the Pokémon was agilely dodging all of them. Then it unexpectedly thrust its glowing hand forward to clobber Croagunk with a Mach Punch.

Croagunk jumped into the air, causing the move to miss. It did several backflips in midair and landed on its feet.

"All right, Croagunk!" cheered Brock. Then he gasped. "Hey, _watch out_!"

Croagunk rolled over as Infernape's Flamethrower narrowly missed it. Brock had to flatten himself to avoid getting singed! Then the two Pokémon began to battle by stabbing furiously at each other.

Now Alice and Chimchar were sitting at a table under an umbrella, watching the Trainers battle. "Great, Brock!" she called to him.

On the other side of the square, Piplup and Empoleon had begun their battle. Piplup started off with a huge Whirlpool attack. It levitated into the air as it created a spinning vortex of water out of its beak. Then it hurled it down to the ground at Empoleon.

"Empoleon, Ice Beam!" commanded Kai.

Empoleon opened its mouth and sent out a bolt of ice. The Ice Beam collided into the Whirlpool and froze it. Then the frozen Whirlpool shattered in the air.

Piplup shot down like a rocket, its beak glowing as it prepared a Peck.

Empoleon leaped into the air and started to spin rapidly like a top to use a powerful Drill Peck.

_BAM!_ Piplup and Empoleon crashed straight into each other. Piplup shakily landed on the ground, but it was still all right.

"Okay, Piplup!" shouted Dawn. "Use BubbleBeam!"

Piplup opened its beak as wide as it could, and it released bubbles that could hit an opponent like wet rockets.

Empoleon quickly protected itself by covering its body with its tough flippers, and the bubbles glanced off without doing any harm. Then it spread its flippers and ran toward an astonished Piplup.

"Don't give up, Piplup!" Dawn encouraged it. "Now use Whirlpool!"

Piplup whirled around and around, forming another vortex of water, though this one was much larger. This time, instead of aiming it at Empoleon, it surrounded itself with the Whirlpool, and it spun toward Empoleon, who ran right into it.

Dawn and Kai watched the Whirlpool with anticipation, wondering the same thing: _"What's going on in there?"_

Just then, the tornado of water lifted clear off the ground and into the sky! Within it, Piplup and Empoleon fought madly.

The Whirlpool exploded. Out came Piplup and Empoleon.

And Ash, Brock, and Dawn's battles continued…

-ooo-

In the end, the three Trainers won their battles, and they were now following Alice through a huge garden.

"This has got to be my favorite place in the whole town," Alice told the three Trainers.

_"Chimchar!"_

Chimchar raced past Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Alice, being pursued by Pikachu and Piplup. They stopped in front of a pond full of sparkling water that reflected the sunlight beautifully.

In the water, many Finneon, which were small fish-like Water-type Pokémon, and Lumineon, which were the evolved form of Finneon, swam past the three Pokémon.

Walking on, Alice explained to the awed Trainers, "This whole garden was designed by Godey, you know."

"What a beautiful spot!" Brock commented as he read the Alamos Town guidebook. "It says, 'Designed by the architect Godey, the garden is the harmony between humans and Pokémon.'"

As the group of people and Pokémon walked, many Combee, which were cute, yellow Bug- and Flying-type Pokémon that had three faces, buzzed over a fountain and the verdant green bushes and shrubs along with some Bug- and Flying-type Pokémon called Yanma—Pokémon that looked like large green dragonflies.

Just then, several Pokémon hopped out into the clearing. Their group consisted of a Shinx, a small, blue cat-like Electric-type Pokémon with gleaming yellow eyes, black paws, and a thin, black tail ended with a yellow, four-pointed star; Luxio, the second evolutionary stage of Shinx; Azurill, a little aqua-blue Normal-type Pokémon with a springy tail ended with a bouncy ball; Marill, a Water-type Pokémon that was the second evolution of Azurill; and Azumarill, the third and last stage of Azurill. They circled happily around Alice. Then Shinx ran over to greet Pikachu, Piplup, and Chimchar, and it dashed off with the other Pokémon following it.

Alice explained, "They'd been playing in the garden every since I was a little girl, so everyone here is my friend."

"Cool!" said Ash. Tossing three Poké Balls into the air, he shouted, "Everyone, let's _go_!"

The three Poké Balls burst open, and out came Ash's three Pokémon: Turtwig, a small turtle-like Grass-type Pokémon with a leaf on its head that was the first stage of Torterra; Aipom, a purple monkey-like Normal-type with a tail that had a big hand; and Staravia, a bird-like Normal-and Flying-type that had a curved head crest and black, white, and gray feathers.

"Great idea!" agreed Dawn, taking out her three Poké Balls.

"I'm in, too!" yelled Brock, holding his three Poké Balls.

"Come on out, now!" Dawn threw the balls up, and three Pokémon appeared in a flash of white light: Buneary, a bunny-like Normal-type Pokémon whose puffy fur looked and felt like cotton; Pachirisu, an Electric-type Pokémon that looked like a white squirrel with light blue stripes and two yellow cheeks; and Buizel, a weasel-like Water-type that had a yellow tube around its neck and a long tail that split into two sections near the end, used for propelling itself through water when swimming.

Brock's Poké Balls released Happiny, a pink Normal-type that was always happy and carried around an egg-like rock in its pouch; Croagunk; and Sudowoodo, a Rock-type that could be easily mistaken for a Grass-type since it looked a lot like a tree.

The Pokémon ran around a small rectangular pool with arches of water spraying out on either side. The Water-type Pokémon dived into the water and swam to the end. Ash and his friends hurried after the Pokémon on a walkway off to the side.

As they ran through a grapevine-covered archway, a strange Pokémon suddenly fell directly in front of Ash's face. It was green and leaf-covered, and two tiny eyes peered out at the top. _"Wormadam!"_ it said.

_"Waah!"_ he yelped, stumbling backward. Dawn, Brock, and Alice joined him and giggled. Ash laughed, too, when he realized what it was.

"Wow!" said Dawn as they went on.

"Guess that's their way of greeting everyone," Brock said as more off the Grass-type Pokémon, called Wormadam, bounced up and down, saying, _"Wormadam! Wormadam!" _Croagunk, who had followed the Trainers, looked up at the Wormadam and puffed out its big, orange cheeks.

Shinx, Pikachu, Chimchar, and Buneary, jumped on top of some blue, leaf-shaped stepping stones to get across another pool. Piplup, Azurill, and Marill continued to swim. Azumarill ran on the stepping stones, followed by Staravia, who flew over it. Then came Pachirisu, Turtwig, Aipom, Buizel (who was swimming), Sudowoodo, and at last, Happiny.

_"Happy, happiny,"_ it chanted. Then it tripped on a stepping stone.

_"Happiny!"_ it cried out desperately. But right before it splashed into the water, something saved it.

What was it?

It was a Quagsire, a big, blue Water- and Ground-type Pokémon. Happiny sat up on its rescuer and cheered, _"Happiny!"_ Behind the two Pokémon swam three Wooper, the first evolutionary stage of Quagsire.

Down the stone stairs ran Shinx, Pikachu, Chimchar, Pachirisu, Piplup, Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, Turtwig, Buneary, Buizel, and Luxio. Four curious Kricketot, which were small Bug-type Pokémon that constantly chirped during the day and night, hopped off a tree and followed the group of Pokémon.

Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Alice went to a balcony that overlooked the beautiful view of the huge lake.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ash.

Just then, Brock spotted something. Pointing, he said, "Look at that!"

"Oh!" Dawn gasped.

Meanwhile, down below the balcony, Piplup, Pachirisu, and Aipom slid down a tall slide. Quagsire watched Happiny and the three Wooper run through a bunch of wooden columns. Pikachu, Buneary, and Chimchar sat on one end of the seesaw, while Azurill and Marill sat on the other end. Azumarill stood in the center, carefully balancing itself. Then Happiny rushed by, carrying Quagsire above its head. The three Wooper laughed at the sight and marveled at the little Normal-type's strength.

On the branch of a tree, three Pokémon hopped out into view: two Budew, which were Grass- and Poison-type Pokémon that looked somewhat like walking rosebuds, and a Cherubi, a Grass-type Pokémon that looked like a smiling cherry.

_"Budew!"_ said one of the Budew. It and its friends jumped down to sit next to Staravia, who was watching Croagunk and Sudowoodo have fun on the swings.

Staravia turned its head to see the three Pokémon. _"Staravia,"_ it greeted them.

Croagunk and Sudowoodo, who had the four Kricketot sitting on its head and hands, happily sat on the swings.

_"Croagunk,"_ croaked the Pokémon to Sudowoodo.

_"Sudowoodo!"_ it replied merrily. It watched a Yanmega (the last stage of Yanma) fly by and continued to swing.

At the slide, Aipom performed a backflip for Piplup, Pachirisu, and Luxio. All of a sudden, Turtwig tumbled out of the slide and rolled onto the sand. Luxio stuck out its paw to stop it, and Shinx came out a moment later. All six Pokémon laughed and pranced around.

Then Piplup turned its head, and something caught its eye. Forgetting about the other five Pokémon, it walked away and climbed up a steep hill.

It had found a tiny peach tree—and three of the juicy fruits were still there, waiting to be eaten!

_"Piplup!"_ The Pokémon eagerly jumped up to pick a peach off. But Pachirisu came hurtling by—and it stole the peach!

Piplup stared at Pachirisu. Then it shrugged and reached for the second peach.

This time, Aipom stole it!

Now Piplup was _very_ frustrated. It turned to the third and last peach and quickly tugged it off the tree.

Unfortunately, Shinx had nabbed it at the exact same time! Each of the two Pokémon struggled to pull it out of their opponent's mouth. They tripped and fell from the hill…and crashed right into Pikachu, Buneary, and Chimchar's side of the seesaw.

_"Azurill!"_

_"Marill!"_

The two Pokémon flew into the air—and plunged straight toward Pachirisu!

_"Buizel!"_ Buizel caught Azurill, and it landed in Buizel's paw.

_"Azumarill!"_ Azumarill did the same to Marill.

Unfortunately, the weight of Azurill, Marill, and the arms of Buizel and Azumarill was all on Pachirisu's head. This was all too much for the little Electric-type, and it let loose a Spark attack that electrified everybody around it.

Piplup and Shinx, their mouths still locked onto the peach, crashed into the bunch of Pokémon. They separated, and Shinx flew into Buneary.

_"Bunny!"_ Buneary used Ice Beam by accident, and it froze poor Shinx! The frozen Shinx slammed into Azumarill and broke out of its freezing prison.

Buizel and Turtwig lay on the ground, stunned by Pachirisu's Spark. Luxio growled and tried to shove off Piplup, who was stuck on its back. Finally, it couldn't help it.

_"Luxio!"_ The Pokémon shocked Piplup, Buizel, and Turtwig with its own Spark!

Ash and the others heard the commotion below and ran over to see. They stared at the scene, confused.

Piplup, Turtwig, Buneary, and Buizel glowered angrily at Shinx, Luxio, Azurill, Marill, and Azumarill. Pikachu and Chimchar attempted to end the argument. Sudowoodo jumped around, trying help Pikachu.

Enraged, the two teams of Pokémon growled and watched each other, eye to eye.

Ash knew that this was getting out of hand. Running down the steps with Dawn and Brock, he shouted at the Pokémon, "Knock it off!"

"Stop fighting!" Dawn added.

The Pokémon ignored their orders and continued to snarl at each other. Was a battle about to begin?

Just then, a soothing song wafted down from the balcony. Everybody, even the angry Pokémon, turned around and saw Alice with her leaf whistle on her lips.

The tender melody instantly calmed down the fighting spirits of the Pokémon. They smiled and watched Alice play the song.

Ash and Dawn reached the Pokémon and gasped at their sudden peace-filled time.

Three Pidgey fluttered down from the sky and sat on the railing of the lower balcony. They shut their eyes and swayed along with the tune.

As Alice went on with her song, Aipom bounced over to Piplup and Shinx and opened its tail hand, revealing its peach. Piplup and Shinx apologized to each other, happily accepted the peach, and shared it. Behind them, Pikachu and Chimchar grinned at the sight of their peaceful moment.

Seeing no more need of shouting, Ash and Dawn went back up to the balcony where Brock waited. They smiled and watched Alice.

At last, with one final quavering note, Alice finished her song. She put down the leaf whistle, sighed, and looked out at the sparkling lake.

Ash, Dawn, and Brock joined her. "What a beautiful song!" exclaimed Dawn, impressed.

"My grandmother taught it to me," Alice told them.

His hands clasped together, Brock gushed, "It was just so moving!"

Alice smiled. "Thank you, Brock." She giggled.

Just then, the group of people heard something jumping about in the trees, saying, _"Gallade, gallade, gallade…"_

A Pokémon suddenly appeared on the balcony. It was a Gallade—a tall, green and white Psychic- and Fighting-type Pokémon with blades on its arms. _"Gallade,"_ it said.

Alice turned. "What, Gallade?" she asked.

Gallade pointed behind itself. _"Gallade, gall, gall, gallade!"_

Alice felt worried. Gallade seemed to telling her something urgent. "What happened?"

Gallade took a flying leap and landed at the top of the stairs. _"Gallade, gall, gall, gall, gallade, gall!"_ it said, jabbing at the area it wanted Alice to see.

"Something's very wrong," murmured Alice. She followed Gallade, calling, "Chimchar!"

Ash turned to look at Dawn and Brock. "Guys, let's go, too!"

His friends agreed with a single nod. They all took out their Poké Balls.

"Return now!" shouted Brock. With a flash of red light, his Pokémon were back in their Poké Balls. Ash and Dawn did the same.

A few moments later, they were all running after Gallade, who led them to a part of the garden with many stone pillars.

But something was wrong.

Many of the pillars looked like they had been wrenched and twisted out of their normal shapes! A few of them were even lying on the ground, destroyed.

Alice gasped. "This is _terrible_," she groaned. "Who could've done this?"

"It was Darkrai!" a voice answered.

Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Alice looked up from the distorted pillars to see a distinguished-looking man wearing a yellow scarf around his body walk toward them.

Alice recognized him. "Alberto!"

"It appears that there have been recent sightings in town," Alberto continued as he went to look at the pillars.

"Uh… 'Scuse me?" said Ash. "Who's Darkrai?"

"The Pokémon who wrecked this havoc!" answered Alberto, stomping his foot on one of the pillars' twisted parts.

"Pokémon!" exclaimed Dawn.

Alice looked at Dawn. "Darkrai must live here in the garden."

"I've heard of Darkrai before," said Brock. "It's a Pokémon that makes you have nightmares!"

Ash blinked. "Nightmares…"

Pikachu cocked its head. _"Pika…"_

High in the branches of a tree, a trio that consisted of two people and a Pokémon was spying on the huddle bellow.

It was Team Rocket. They and their Carnivine balloon had crash-landed into the garden, but Team Rocket didn't care. All they cared about was spying and stealing!

"Handsome hunk spotted in close proximity to Pikachu!" announced Jessie softly, looking through her binoculars to see Alberto kicking at another savaged pillar.

"Looking like a Joe, we should get to know!" said James, who was spying while being held upside down (his legs were tangled up in the destroyed balloon's basket).

"Never host a party wit'out a rock star, dat's what I always say!" added Meowth.

Down below, there was a rustle in the bushes. The people and the Pokémon all gasped and looked at where the sound came from.

"Hear _that_?" asked Alice.

Alberto took out a Poké Ball. "Darkrai," he said, smiling and tossing the ball up into the air.

_Bang!_ Out came a Lickilicky, a fat, pink Normal-type with a very long tongue. _"Licky!"_

Pointing at the bushes, Baron commanded, "Lickilicky! Hyper Beam!"

Lickilicky obeyed and sent out a powerful beam of orange fire out of its mouth and into the bushes.

_Boom!_

_"AAAGH!"_

Everyone was shocked. "Huh?" They watched as a young man with glasses whose clothes and laptop were burned stumble out. "Now what did you do _that_ for…" Then he smashed his face into a tree and collapsed.

The same Drifblim that had blown away Team Rocket floated down. _"Drifblim."_

"Tonio!" cried Alice. She ran to the man and helped him up. Then she led him to where the twisted pillars were. "You okay?" Then, seeing the confused faces of her friends, she explained, "This is my friend Tonio. He's a scientist."

Showing his laptop to the others, Tonio said, "I was investigating a space-time anomaly that I had detected. Something has happened…" He noticed the pillars, handed Alice his laptop, and bent down. He examined one pillar and gently touched the twisted parts. "It isn't possible," he whispered.

Just then, there was a crumbling sound. Then a slab of rock from the pillar landed on Tonio's head. _"Aagh!"_ he screamed.

"Tonio!" Alice said, concerned.

Tonio rubbed his aching head. "No, no… I'm fine, I'm fine, really…"

Alberto spoke. "Alice, you don't have to be so nice to him!"

"Alberto!" Alice said, surprised.

He walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "After all, my dear, you are to be my wife, remember?"

Alice's face looked disbelieving. Tonio looked very worried. Dawn was shocked. And Brock was beyond shocked.

"Wh-wh-wh-_what_?" he yelped.

"No way!" exclaimed Dawn.

"Whoa," said Ash.

Alice tore herself out of Alberto's grasp. "Excuse me, but I thought I told you no already!"

When Tonio heard that, he gave a sigh of relief. "Ah…"

"Come on," Alice went on. "I'm too young to think about marriage."

Ash, Pikachu, and Dawn stared. Brock, like Tonio, sighed. "Whew…"

Alberto was embarrassed. "Please forgive me. This isn't the time or place for that kind of talk! Now that that's done, why don't you come over to my place…for a little dinner?"

Dawn walked over and shoved him away from Alice. "Hold it!" she shouted. "Alice is _so_ not interested!"

Obviously, Chimchar agreed, for it joined Dawn, clenched its hands into fists, and shrieked as it jumped up and down, _"Chimchar, chimchar, char, char, CHAR!"_

Waggling his finger in Dawn's face, Alberto said, "Excuse me, young lady… _Butt out!_"

"Who _is_ that guy?" Ash whispered to Tonio.

"Baron Alberto," the scientist whispered back.

_What a weirdo he is,_ Ash thought.

Once he had finished yelling at Dawn, Alberto skipped over to Alice and said cheerfully, "So, Alice, let's get going—"

But Alice didn't think so. She dodged his arm and ran to Tonio's side.

Brock was shocked.

"You see, Tonio is the one I like," Alice said firmly.

Now Brock was beyond shocked. _"Whaaaa—?"_

Tonio had no clue about what was going on. "I… I am?"

Alberto laughed. "Hahaha! You have quite a sense of humor, my dear!"

Tonio sheepishly grinned. "So… This was all just a little joke! Uh, haha…"

Alice looked at him. "Joke!" She turned away from him, disgusted.

Tonio sadly sighed. He began to think of the time when he and Alice were just kids…

_Tonio knelt next to the motionless Alice. He gently shook her awake, and she looked into Tonio's eyes._

_She was so happy that she jumped up and hugged Tonio as tightly as she could. Tonio blinked, surprised at her action._

"Oh, Alice," he murmured.

-ooo-

Far away, in the other dimension…

The two great Pokémon were still battling.

The pink Pokémon raced away from its pursuer, the blue Pokémon. Suddenly, it swerved around and slammed into its enemy.

The two Pokémon separated. The pink Pokémon opened its mouth, and a huge orange ball of fire appeared.

The blue Pokémon also opened its mouth, and its own ball of fire appeared.

Two beams of fire collided into each other with a humongous _KABOOM_! Thousands of Unown flew away, blasted by the collision.

-ooo-

Pikachu whipped its head around. _"Pika!"_

Even though they could not be seen, everybody could feel powerful waves surging through the garden!

Tonio groaned. "Not again…" He took his laptop from Alice, read it over, and asked, "What _is_ it? Such strange phenomena…"

The laptop was beeping its warning call, and the screen displayed an image of forceful waves of energy in the city.

Just then, Gallade sensed something. It defensively put its right arm in from of its chest and said, _"Gallade!"_

"Wha…?" The three Trainers, Alice, Tonio, Alberto, and the Pokémon all turned.

In the bushes, a medium-sized pillar with a bunch of grass and flowers on its top stood on the dirt. As Ash and his friends watched, a strange, pink light cut through the stone, slicing it in half. After staying suspended in the air for a few seconds, the top half of the wrecked pillar thudded onto the ground.

Suddenly, an ominous shadow flew out from the bushes and circled the fallen pillar.

_"Gall,"_ muttered Gallade, glaring at the shadow.

Pikachu hopped off Ash's head and onto his shoulder. _"Pika!"_

Ash gasped. "Something's there!"

The clouds in the sky covered the sun. Shadows filled the garden, darkening it.

The shadow paused. _"Do not come here,"_ growled a dark voice.

Then a terrifying Pokémon slowly emerged from the ground.

Tonio's face paled. "It's Darkrai…"

Alberto smiled faintly. "I'd say so."

Dawn ran over to join Ash, Pikachu, and Brock. She stopped when she saw the Pokémon. "Aw…"

When it was out in plain view, everyone stared in horror.

By the look of it, the Pokémon was obviously a Dark-type. It had a wispy white plume billowing on its head, red spikes around its neck, and tatters that waved around on its shoulders and on its back. Its glowing ice-blue eyes seemed to be staring right through the people and the Pokémon's bodies.

"Darkrai?" said Dawn.

"Afraid so!" replied Ash, gritting his teeth.

He was right. The Pokémon of nightmares and darkness had come to confront them.

* * *

><p><strong>Darkrai:<strong> A cliff-hanger. Oh, joy.

**Storm:** At least you got introduced…

**Darkrai:** In a very evil-ish way. _*sigh*_

**Dialga and Palkia:** HEY! WHAT ABOUT _US_?

**Storm:** Soon.

**Dialga:** How soon?

**Storm:** Too bad, your time's up. Now we'll wait for next Saturday.

**Darkrai:** Another week of waiting. Oh—

**Palkia:** —joy.

**Dialga:** Shut—

**Storm:** —up. Now. Would you like another beating? _*pulls out a Home-Run Bat*_ This Home-Run Bat is one of my favorite items in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It can give each of you a nasty conk on the head _and_ a guaranteed one-hit KO. Would you like a beating?

**Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai:** _*sweatdrop*_ Uh, no, thank you!


	4. The Nightmare

**Storm:** Yay! It's Saturday.

**Dialga:** Here is Chapter 3!

**Palkia:** Storm Aurastar does not own Pokémon.

**Darkrai:** Stuff in _italics_ are flashbacks.

**Storm:** And please enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Nightmare<strong>

"So it _was_ you after all, Darkrai," said Alberto. "Go, Lickilicky!"

Lickilicky stepped forward to face Darkrai.

Watching through her binoculars, Jessie exclaimed, "Ooh! What's _that_?"

"Dat's Darkrai!" answered Meowth.

"What a nice looking chap!" James remarked as they all lowered their binoculars to watch the scene below.

Lickilicky attacked—with a powerful Hyper Beam! The plume of fire screamed toward Darkrai.

_Boom!_

But when the smoke cleared, Darkrai was nowhere to be seen!

"It's gone!" yelped Ash.

Pikachu noticed a quick movement on the ground. _"Pika!"_

Darkrai, a shadow on the ground, zigzagged its way through the people and their Pokémon, zipped away to the end of the garden, and suddenly reappeared, firing a black orb at Lickilicky.

Despite being so fat, Lickilicky was actually quite agile. It dodged the orb, causing Darkrai's move to miss it.

Unfortunately, somebody else was behind it.

Ash.

_"Aagh!"_ gasped Dawn and Brock.

Ash screamed when he was engulfed by the orb.

Pikachu was horrified. _"Pika pi!"_

_"WAAAH!"_ Ash cried. His friends vanished from sight as he fell down, down, and down into the blackness…

-ooo-

_Thud._

"Aagh!" Ash landed on the ground with a loud thump. "Ugh! Uh…" He painfully stood up and looked around. "Ugh… Huh?"

He was all alone. Nobody was there but him.

"Hey, guys?" he called. "Pikachu? Where are you?" He began to walk around. "Hey! Brock! Dawn!"

He didn't notice that as he walked, his shadow stayed in place…

Then Ash saw something out of the corner of his eye. He spun around to see his own shadow ripple and change into the shadow of Darkrai!

"Aaah!" he yelled.

The shadow completely covered the area of the garden! Ash looked up and saw Darkrai's shadow looming before him in the sky.

A bright flash of blue. Then the huge shadow changed into a different scene—a _very_ different scene.

Ash was now in the midst of a strange place. A place that was dark with wispy clouds everywhere.

And he wasn't alone.

A colossal creature flew toward Ash. It was hard to distinguish, but Ash could see that it was mostly whitish-pink and had magenta stripes, two wings on its back, a somewhat short tail, two huge pearls embedded in its shoulders, and glowing, red eyes.

_"PARURURURURU!"_ it roared.

"Oh, man, what's going on?" Ash moaned.

The creature gave a final bellow, and it lunged at Ash.

"Ugh!" Ash shut his eyes…and the whole scene and the creature disappeared. They were replaced by the Alamos Town garden and—

"Darkrai!" Ash finally realized what was happening. "_Darkrai's_ doing this!" He reached into his vest and pulled out a Poké Ball. Tossing it into the air, he shouted, "All right, Turtwig, I choose you!"

But the Poké Ball disappeared into thin air!

"Wha—?" gasped Ash. He looked down and saw Darkrai merging into the ground—and Pikachu was there!

Ash grinned. "Hey, Pikachu!" Then his smile turned into an expression of terror. "Huh…?"

Pikachu was being sucked into the area where Darkrai had gone! _"Pika!"_ it cried, helplessly stuck to the ground.

"Wha—?" Ash ran toward his Pokémon. "Pikachu!"

The moment Pikachu fell into the sinkhole, Ash grabbed it and fell in, too.

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

-ooo-

_"Pikaaachuuuuuuuu!"_

"_Aaaagh!"_

Ash blinked. He wasn't falling; instead, he was lying in a bed. And Pikachu wasn't gone; it was clutched firmly in his arms.

"Pikachu," said Ash, smiling widely at his friend.

Pikachu was elated to see its friend awake. _"Pika pi!"_ It hugged Ash.

"You're okay!" Ash cuddled his partner tightly, and it frantically began to wave its arms.

A hand nudged Ash's shoulder. "Ash, stop! Pikachu's suffocating."

It was true. When Ash released Pikachu, it was panting and gasping for breath.

But was that Dawn who just spoke?

Ash sat up in the bed and looked around. Dawn and Brock were on his right, looking concerned. Perched on the railing of the bed was Chimchar. Alice and Tonio stood on his left with Nurse Joy and a Chansey, a pink Normal-type with an egg in its pouch that made a good doctor for people and Pokémon alike. Many Chansey were found in Pokémon Centers, assisting Nurse Joy.

"Ugh… Where am I?" Ash asked.

"The Pokémon Center," Dawn replied.

_"Chansey!"_ Chansey waved its hand at Ash.

Nurse Joy frowned. "You were having such terrible nightmares after Darkrai put you to sleep!"

"Nightmares, huh? That means…it was all just a dream!" Ash felt relieved.

"Creating bad dreams is Darkrai's special ability," the nurse went on. "If you ever fall asleep near Darkrai, you'll have terrible nightmares!"

"Sure, really in a bad way," Brock added.

Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder. _"Pika!"_

Ash chuckled and rubbed its left cheek. "You woke me up, didn't you, buddy?"

Pikachu grinned. _"Pikachu!"_

"Darkrai doesn't normally come out when people are around," murmured Nurse Joy.

"So I don't think the townspeople are liking this one bit," Brock said.

"Because of all those nightmares, even the other Pokémon stay away from Darkrai."

Tonio bent down to examine the patterns on the wooden floor as the others talked on.

"Well, no one wants to have a nightmare, right?" Dawn said to Ash and Brock.

Brock nodded.

Ash was furious. "If I ever come across that Darkrai again, I'll give him a battle for _good_!"

_"Pika!"_ agreed his friend.

"Wait," Alice said suddenly. "Remember, it was Baron Alberto who attacked it first. You should wait."

Ash looked disappointed.

Kneeling on the floor, Tonio traced the swirling pattern of the wood.

"This is an incredible force," he said to himself. "Enough to actually warp space…" He stood up and loudly announced, "I have to look at more data!"

Alice was surprised. "Tonio!"

Tonio marched out of the room and walked through the hall. Everyone could hear him mumbling to himself, "There's a strong possibility the same thing is happening… It must be…"

Another Chansey who was going to the room where Ash and his friends were had to flatten itself against the wall as Tonio went by, muttering, "Maybe there's something in Godey's diary—"

_Bam! _

_"Ugh!"_ Tonio had stumbled headfirst into the wall. He hadn't noticed that the hall turned left. Rubbing his head, he turned and disappeared from view, moaning and groaning.

Alice smiled. "That is _so_ him… Once he starts thinking about something, that's that."

"Hmm," said Dawn.

-ooo-

It was nighttime. Fireworks of all colors crackled and exploded in the dark sky, and the townspeople were celebrating the coming of the Pokémon Contest that would take place in the next few days. The Space-Time Towers reflected the light beautifully, casting a glow on the houses all around them.

Tonio wasn't celebrating, though. In fact, he was doing quite the opposite—reading the diary of the architect Godey.

He flipped a page and saw a faded photo on top of the next page. "Hmm…" He picked it up and looked at it.

The photo showed to people, a little girl and an old man. Then he looked at the diary page. "That's Alicia," Tonio realized. "She _met_ Darkrai in the garden!" He looked at the photo again. "Alicia… Alice's _grandmother_!"

A vivid flashback entered his mind…

_Young Alicia ran through the garden. When she skidded to a stop, she gasped, horrorstruck._

"Roserade,"_ groaned the rose-like Grass- and Poison-type Pokémon. It was lying on the ground, surrounded by four worried Budew._

_Off to the side, a Psychic-type Kirlia jerked and twitched on the dirt. _"K-K-Kirlia,"_ it gasped._

_Suddenly, a large Electric-type Pokémon called Luxray burst into the clearing and roared, _"Luxray!"_ It sent out a Hyper Beam at a hidden foe, and it growled. Then its face flashed a sign of fear—and a strange black orb engulfed it._

_The orb blew away, and Luxray collapsed. Like Roserade and Kirlia, it began to shake and quiver. _"L-L-Luxray…"

_Alicia rushed over to the fallen Luxray. "Luxray!" she cried. She watched it helplessly, and then she looked up to see another Pokémon._

_The Pokémon was floating in an awkward position in the air. Then it fell and leaned against a tree in pain, shutting its eyes._

_When Alicia approached, the Pokémon stirred and stared at her. Its nervousness instantly disappeared when she placed a comforting hand on it._

_Alicia stared at the Pokémon. She had no idea who or what it was, but she was happy to see that it was all right. She smiled warmly at it._

_An old man by the name of Godey was walking along a bridge when he heard a beautiful tune. He went to the railing and saw Alicia playing on a leaf whistle as she sat on a swing in the shade of a tall tree. Roserade, Kirlia, and Luxray slept peacefully around her._

_Godey gazed at the little girl who was playing the soothing song. Then he turned his head and saw something that made him gasp._

_It was a strange, ominous-looking shadow on the ground. It didn't seem to be alarming Alicia at all, however…_

"'And so, Darkrai, who was hated by everyone else, opened his heart to Alicia and began to live in the garden,'" finished Tonio. His eyes widened. "Oh… What an amazing story!" He turned the page. "Huh?"

The next page depicted a diagram of the insides of the Space-Time Towers. Words and notes were written here and there. Tonio began to read the diary passage.

"'It turns out that the nightmare told me just what I needed to do. For the future, I needed to leave Oración for the world.'

"Huh," he remarked. "Oración… Hmm…" He put his hand on his chin, thinking…

-ooo-

In the darkness of a huge room with gigantic windows, Baron Alberto turned around. "TV people, huh?"

The two people and their Pokémon behind him nodded vigorously. It was Team Rocket, and they were disguised—as usual. This time, they were dressed as TV people with a video camera and a microphone.

"That's us!" Jessie replied enthusiastically. "And we'll join the Baron Alberto who'll battle the evil Darkrai, and to be with you would be quite a cool! Conducted by me—the lovely reporter Jessilina!"

"Directed by yours truly, Jameson!" added James. "And photographed by—"

"Meowth, an' dat's da name!" finished their Pokémon.

Alberto smiled. "Hmm… Well, I suppose." He pulled a lever, and a model train's engine sprang to life. It chugged through a model-sized Alamos Town. "After all," the baron continued, "the public does have a right to know."

"Thanks for the public service!" said Jessie, James and Meowth in unison, bowing a little. Then the three of them shared a secret smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> Yeah, I know… SHORT! And no offense, Lickilicky lovers, but he really _is_ fat. To me, that is.

**Darkrai:** Hmm… The previous chapters were longer than this one…

**Dialga:** I hope Chapter 4 is much longer.

**Storm:** Don't worry; it will.

**Palkia:** See you next Saturday, and remember to review! Storm hates it when he doesn't get any reviews.

**Storm:** And if I don't get any, expect the story to be discontinued. See you later!


	5. Climbing the Towers

**Storm:** And here is Chapter 4!

**Dialga:** Storm does not own Pokémon.

**Palkia:** Please enjoy…

**Darkrai:** …And please review.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Climbing the Towers<strong>

It was the day before the Pokémon Contest. The Alamos Town square was even busier than usual, since all the Pokémon Trainers there were eager to get ready.

Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Alice weren't preparing just yet. They started their day with a little bit of shopping.

"I'll take…that one, please," said Dawn, pointing at a crescent-shaped feather that was yellow and light green with some colorful beads attached to the string. Piplup tried to see the charm, but it was too short to peer over the vendor's cart.

The vendor picked up the feather and handed it to Dawn. "Of course. This Lunar Wing will make bad dreams a thing of the past!" he assured her. Dawn dropped some money into his hand. "So…come again!" the vendor called after her.

Dawn and Piplup ran back to the others. Pikachu and Chimchar stopped chasing each other in circles and followed them.

"Hahaha!" laughed Dawn. The three Pokémon ran ahead of the people, playing. "No need to worry about nightmares now!"

Ash smiled at her. Then he frowned as he thought about the nightmare he got from Darkrai yesterday. The colossal creature's bellowing roar still continued to echo in his mind: _"PARURURURURU!"_

"Man, I sure hope that thing works," he said to himself as he walked with his friends.

Alice noticed that he was oddly quiet. Usually, he would be bursting with conversations. "Hey, is something bothering you, Ash?" she asked kindly.

"Uh… Nah," he replied. Then he looked up at the Space-Time Towers when the sound of bells _binged_ and _bonged_ out a tune.

-ooo-

"…and this is the site of the Alamos Town Pokémon Contest," finished Alice, leading the three Trainers into a huge gymnasium with rows and rows of seats, a stage, and a large, ovular stained-glass window on the ceiling.

"I am _so_ psyched!" cried Dawn happily. "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

_"Piplup pip!"_ her Pokémon agreed.

"The towers are just as impressive inside as outside!" remarked Brock.

"We're right in the middle!" said Alice.

As the Trainers' tour guide led them on, they looked up and down, left and right, and here and there at all the amazing things they laid their eyes on. _"Wow,"_ they all breathed together.

Pikachu, Piplup, and Chimchar ran up a set of stairs and gazed at the sculpture on the wall.

_"Pika…?"_

_"Piplup!"_

_"Chimchar?"_

On the wall was a carving of a little girl sitting on the branch of a tree and playing a leaf whistle. Surrounding her were rival Pokémon that faced each other peacefully: Zangoose and Seviper, Electivire and Magmortar, Lunatone and Solrock, Leafeon and Glaceon, Volbeat and Illumise, and Plusle and Minun.

"This is the Space Tower," Alice said as they walked under a rotating model of the Solar System, where the model planets seemed to be pink pearls.

"And this is the Time Tower," she announced, gesturing to the blue pendulums that swung back and forth on the ceiling above them.

"The architect Godey who designed the Space-Time Towers was Tonio's great-grandfather," she told them.

"Ah," they said, awed by this new discovery.

"Tonio's laboratory is directly below us."

And that was where they went next.

-ooo-

Alice knocked the wooden door to Tonio's lab. "Tonio?" she called. "It's Alice."

"Sorry to bother you!" Dawn added apologetically.

"Wow," said Ash as they went past shelves filled with books. Pikachu, Piplup, and Chimchar followed them.

Alice was puzzled. Tonio was nowhere to be seen! "Tonio?" Then she spotted a pair of brown shoes sticking out from behind the table.

"Oh!" She rushed over to Tonio, who lay on the ground, still and unmoving. Ash and his friends gasped when they saw the young scientist.

"Tonio!" Alice shook his shoulders. "Are you all right?"

Tonio's eyebrows twitched. Then he slowly opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of Alice. "Oh, Alice! Good morning."

"Uh…" Alice looked at him with disbelief. "Well!" She let him go, and he crashed onto the hard floor. Ash, Dawn, and Brock stared. "Don't sleep on the floor."

Grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head, he said, "Sorry. I found a reference to the nightmare in Godey's diary last night." He slowly sat up and stood. "Wish _I_ could have a nightmare…"

Everybody was confused by his words. "Huh?"

Brock shrugged. Ash and Dawn looked at each other, puzzled.

"Not only that," Tonio went on, walking over to his computer desk and picking up the photo he had found in the diary. "I found a picture of your grandmother."

Alice took the photo from Tonio and looked at it.

"It shows her with Godey," said Tonio.

Alice smiled. "Grandma Alicia," she murmured. Ash, Dawn, and Brock crowded around her for a look.

"Looks just like you!" commented Dawn.

Alice flipped the photo to look at the backside. "It's music," she said, puzzled.

"Hmm?" asked the three Trainers. They saw three lines of notes with an elegant S-like figure below them. It looked curly and a bit like it was made of leaves.

Meanwhile, Pikachu and Chimchar had ran after Piplup, who had just spotted an interesting object. Piplup walked carefully on the sofa and reached up the table to see what was inside the odd-looking circular box it found.

Piplup lifted its head. The thing that looked like a metal disc came off and was balanced on Piplup's head. Then Piplup lost its balance—and the disc went flying into the air.

_Bong!_

_"Pika!"_ cried Pikachu. The disc had landed right on its head. Pikachu stumbled, trying not to drop the heavy metal thing. It began to hop backwards, not able to see where it was going.

Then it tripped over a thick wire. _"Pika pi!"_

The disc flew off Pikachu's head, and Pikachu landed on its stomach. Piplup and Chimchar squeezed their eyes shut, waiting for the metallic _clang_ of the disc…

Luckily, Ash was there just in time, and he caught the disc right before it could come crashing down onto the floor. "That was a nice save, I guess," Ash told his Pokémon.

Pikachu grinned and rubbed its head. _"Pikachu…"_

Ash placed the disc back on top of the box. Then he and his friends glanced up and the wall—and they gaped at what they saw.

The wall had shelves with row after row of the same box things like the one the table. "What _are_ those?" asked Ash.

"Music discs," Alice answered.

The Trainers turned. "Excuse me?" said Ash.

Gesturing to the ceiling where the very top of the Space-Time Towers were, Tonio explained, "That's how the towers' music is able to play!"

"Oh, can I try it?" begged Dawn.

The others stared at her. "Huh?"

Tonio smiled apologetically. "But to do that, we have to walk all the way to the top!"

But Dawn didn't mind. "No need to worry!" she replied cheerfully.

_"Piplup pip!"_ chirped Piplup, who was still standing on the same sofa as before.

Ash was still staring at her.

-ooo-

Up and up and up and up and up walked the five people and the three Pokémon. They had just started walking up the Space-Time Towers' tall stairs. Alice led the group. Tonio, who carried his laptop bag, was next. Dawn clutched a music disc tightly in her arms. Ash and Brock followed after her.

Eventually, they were all tired and breathless. Dawn grimaced as she groaned, "Ugh… Me and my big mouth…"

Ash didn't care. "Come on. Move it!" He began to dash up the circling steps. "Run!" he shouted. Brock gaped at him with disbelief.

As Ash ran past everybody, he yelled, "Race you to the top, Dawn!" Pikachu jumped after him, squeaking, _"Pika pika pikachu!"_

Up and up the two of them went. The spiraling staircase stretched on and on, but they simply went on. They dashed past a flock of Pidgey, scaring them away, and they were so determined to get to the top first that they didn't notice a basket with a green and yellow balloon…

"Oh, _man_…" Ash panted heavily. "Me and _my_ big mouth…"

Behind him, Pikachu struggled to climb up the steps. It was too tired to run now. _"Pika…"_

Ash paused and took a few deep breaths. Then he began to walk again—much more slowly than before. Then he lifted his head and stared outside to see a green and yellow hot-air balloon—with Dawn, Piplup, Brock, Alice, and Tonio grinning at him inside the basket! Chimchar, who was carefully balancing itself on the metal railings, was heating the balloon with its Flamethrower move.

"We all believe we can fly!" yelled Dawn.

Ash couldn't believe his eyes. "Huh? Hey! That's not fair!" He frantically waved his arms at them. Pikachu clambered up his shoulder and squeaked, _"Pika!"_

Alice smiled at the two. "Sorry, but you were fast!"

"You can try!" added Brock.

"Hey!" Ash shouted. "Let us fly, too!"

_"Pika pika!"_

But the balloon went on, leaving poor Ash and Pikachu to finish the rest of the steps…

-ooo-

Dawn, Piplup, Brock, Alice, Chimchar, and Tonio entered a humongous room. Before them loomed some kind of tall machinery, and they walked up the steps to stand next to it.

"Godey built the Space-Time Towers as a beacon of hope for the happiness of people and Pokémon!" said Alice as they walked.

A flock of Pidgey fluttered down and sat on the railings and on the top of the machine. They watched the people and their Pokémon making their way to the machine. Then two Rattata, which were small, purple rat-like Normal-type Pokémon, poked their heads out from behind the machine.

"The happiness of people and Pokémon," Dawn said quietly.

"And here's our very own beacon of hope now!" said Brock, looking at the entrance of the stairs.

Ash and Pikachu slowly made their way into the room. Tired, breathless, and grumpy, Ash loudly groaned, _"Finally!"_

_"Pika pi…"_ Pikachu collapsed on the ground.

As Tonio spun around a handle on the machine, he explained to Dawn and Brock, "Normally, it's said to automatically play on the hour." A giant plate with four music discs arranged in a square in it began to rotate. "But if it's something special…" He stepped on a pedal, and one of the discs popped out. Alice took out the disc and turned to Dawn. "You can put in the discs you need!" she finished.

"Great!" Dawn stepped forward to the machine.

Then Ash ran up. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "I want to do that!"

Dawn turned away from him. "No way!" she said stubbornly. "This was _my_ idea!"

"Aww…" Ash groaned with dismay. He then realized that Dawn _did_ have a point.

Pikachu tried to comfort him. _"Pikachu."_

Dawn inserted her disc into the empty place where the previous disc was in.

"Then push it down," said Alice.

Dawn did as she was told. Then she stepped back and waited for the music.

But it didn't start.

"Huh?"

Alice looked at Brock and held up the disc she had just taken out. "Brock, would you mind?" she asked.

"Not at all!" said Brock as he accepted it.

Alice walked to a large lever. She grasped it with both hands and slowly pulled the stiff thing down with all her strength.

All at once, a bolt of blue electricity sparked between two electrodes that were located at the very top of the machine. Everyone watched as the power got stronger and stronger.

Then a clanking gear to their right began to spin around. The two Rattata and three of the Pidgey watched curiously as another gear began to rotate.

Then, from somewhere within the Space-Time Towers, large chimes struck thick metal strings, playing out a tune.

As Ash and his friends listened, Tonio explained, "You see, this tower is the world's largest musical instrument as well!"

"Wow!" said Ash.

_"Pika!"_ exclaimed Pikachu.

Down below in the streets of Alamos Town, the townspeople were dancing with the song. More people smiled and watched the dancers.

Soon, it was time to go back down. The flock of Pidgey lifted the folded balloon of the hot-air balloon. Once it was up, Chimchar leaped onto the railing and used Flamethrower to make the balloon float.

This time, Ash and Pikachu joined the gang. "You know, balloons rock!" Ash joked.

_"Pika!"_ his partner agreed happily.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> That was even shorter than the other chapters…sort of.

**Darkrai:** Hopefully, Chapter 5 will be longer.

**Palkia:** The Space-Time Towers sound so…majestic! _*eyes sparkle*_

**Dialga:** I do feel quite sorry for Ash. Though I think that walk gave him quite a workout. _*snort*_

**Storm:** _*glares at Dialga*_ Look here, he's walked from Kanto to Sinnoh almost nonstop, so do you think he still needs a _workout_?

**Dialga:** _*pouts*_ Well, _I_ never knew that!

**Storm:** _*snorts*_ Whatever. Anyway, see you readers next Saturday! Chapter 5 is waiting for you.


	6. The Explosion in the Sky

**Palkia:** Hold on, Storm. It's only Wednesday. I thought you said you would update each new chapter of _The Rise of Darkrai_ every Saturday?

**Storm:** Yes, but I'm bored. Plus, I finished writing this chapter earlier than I expected. So here it is! _*grins*_

**Everybody except Storm:** _*sweatdrop*_ …Um. Oh.

**Storm:** Anyways, here is Chapter 5 of _The Rise of Darkrai_! Please enjoy.

**Dialga:** Storm does _not_ own Pokémon.

**Darkrai:** Pokémon belongs to the Nintendo Company, and that is that.

**Storm:** And please enjoy!

**Palkia:** You already said that…

**Storm:** Shut up.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: The Explosion in the Sky<strong>

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup, Brock, Alice, Chimchar, and Tonio walked out through the Time Tower. Then the three Trainers grinned. "Ah!"

Kai turned around. "If it isn't Ash!" he remarked. "Let's battle again!"

"I need someone to play with Torterra!" called Maury from behind Kai.

_"Terra!"_ grunted the Pokémon.

Allegra jumped in, holding a Poké Ball. "Come on! Me, too!"

"Go, Sudowoodo!" Brock threw out a Poké Ball.

"Buizel!" Dawn threw out her Poké Ball.

In a flash of light, Sudowoodo and Buizel appeared, ready and confident.

On the other side, Torterra and Infernape growled at their opponents, bracing themselves for the battle that would start in a matter of seconds.

"Let's _go_!" shouted Kai, waving his arms. His Empoleon copied him.

"Pikachu, get moving!" Ash told his Pokémon.

_"Pikachu!"_ It raced toward Empoleon, ready to attack…

-ooo-

In the unknown dimension, the pink Pokémon flew through the air, its left pearl cracked and flickering. Behind it, the blue Pokémon gave chase, determined to get its enemy.

The blue Pokémon suddenly unleashed a plume of fire, and a group of hundreds of Unown narrowly dodged the move. The pink Pokémon wasn't so lucky, however. The move struck it right on its back, causing it to stumble in midair.

The blue Pokémon took advantage of its opponent's situation and roared, _"DIAAAAAAAAAA!"_ Its diamond glowed brightly, and it let loose its powerful attack of temporal power.

-ooo-

Back in Tonio's lab, the computer began to beep. Tonio rushed over and read the data.

"It's coming from a different space," he realized. "From _between_ the dimensions!"

-ooo-

The pink Pokémon fled for its life through the dimension. Its pearl was already badly damaged, and it didn't want to risk injuring it even further. It rushed toward a rippling portal through which Alamos Town could be seen…

-ooo-

Up in the sky, between the Space Tower and the Time Tower, something pink appeared—there was a roar—

_KABOOM!_

A colossal explosion of pink filled the sky! Everyone looked up, amazed at the sight.

Tonio's computer was beeping more furiously than ever. The scientist just stared at the screen, utterly shocked.

Outside, the pink light covered the city… Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. A smaller explosion sounded between the towers.

-ooo-

_"DIAAAAAAAAAA!"_ The blue Pokémon was enraged. Its eyes glowed red with rage as it swerved its head left and right, searching for its opponent.

But it was nowhere to be found. The blue Pokémon was left all alone in the dark, lightning-filled dimension.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

-ooo-

The six Trainers and their Pokémon all stared up at where the explosion of pink light was. Behind them, the townspeople stared, too.

"What was all _that_?" asked Ash after a long moment of silence.

"The sky just lit up!" exclaimed Dawn.

_"Go away."_

Ash turned around. "Huh?"

Out from the ground rose Darkrai, the Pokémon of nightmares and darkness—right in front of everybody in the square!

Ash and Pikachu ran toward the Pokémon. "Darkrai!" yelled Ash.

_"Pikachu!"_ Ash's partner glared at Darkrai.

Just then, Ash heard the thump of a boot on the stone ground. It was Baron Alberto.

"Aha!" he said. He took out his Poké Ball and cried, "Lickilicky!"

Lickilicky appeared in a flash of light. _"Licky!"_

Behind Alberto, Jessie spoke into her microphone. "Leave it to the great Baron to find Darkrai in a blast!"

"With such a fabulous flash!" yelled James and Meowth together. Meowth aimed the video camera at Alberto.

"There is no escape!" he said to Darkrai. "All right, Lickilicky, Gyro Ball!"

Lickilicky began to spin at a furiously high speed. It sped toward Darkrai to slam into it.

Darkrai quickly flew into the air and landed on top of a lamp pole. He lifted his right hand, and a bolt of blue electricity—a Shock Wave attack—zapped Lickilicky as it spun around, stopping it in its tracks.

"Whoa!" gasped a boy who owned a Girafarig.

Lickilicky quickly regained its balance, opened its mouth, and attacked with a Hyper

Beam. _"Licky!"_

Darkrai agilely dodged Lickilicky's move and flew into the air. Forming a strange black and purple orb between his hands, he spoke two words.

_"Dark Void!"_

The orb let loose many smaller orbs. Lickilicky managed to evade all of them, but some of the other Pokémon there weren't so lucky.

"Girafarig!" the boy cried when his Pokémon collapsed, knocked out by the move.

"Gible, _no_!" yelled another Trainer.

Even Brock's own Sudowoodo was hit by the move. "_Aagh!_ Sudowoodo!"

Kai stepped away from Darkrai. "What in the world is _that_?"

"It's Darkrai!" replied Brock, holding up his unconscious Sudowoodo.

Dawn didn't want to be stopped by Darkrai. "Quick, Buizel, use Water Gun!" she commanded.

Buizel let out a powerful blast of water. _"Bui!"_

Darkrai avoided the Water Gun, then formed another Dark Void. Many more Pokémon were hit and put to sleep than the last one.

_"Bui!"_ Buizel collapsed when the move hit it.

_"Sunflora!"_ a Sunflora gasped.

_"Tropius!"_ A Tropius fell on its side.

_"Bibarel…"_ A Trainer's Bibarel teetered around and slumped forward, fast asleep. "Wha…? Bibarel!" The Trainer ran over to it and checked to see if it was all right.

Now the townspeople were terrified. A tall man, a teenage girl, and the same mother and daughter who had bought the cotton candy the previous day ran away screaming to escape from Darkrai, who had flown down and rushed off through a street.

Ash dashed after him with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. "Pikachu!" he shouted as he ran. "Use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leaped high into the air and sent out a powerful Thunderbolt. _"Pikaaachuuuuuuuuu!"_

The lightning struck Darkrai right before he could disappear into the ground.

_"Aagh!"_

And then he was gone.

The people stared, stunned at the sight.

"Aw!" Ash was furious. Darkrai had escaped! He began to run through the street where the Pokémon had gone. Team Rocket, Baron Alberto, and Lickilicky followed him. Meowth was trying to get a good shot of Ash, so it sat on James' shoulders.

"My neck!" James complained.

-ooo-

A flock of Murkrow, which were Flying- and Dark-type Pokémon, flew above a house's roof. Ash ignored them as he and Pikachu ran on.

Soon, they found themselves in a dark alley between two rows of houses. The two of them slowed down to a walk, but they continued to hurry on, all the while keeping an eye out for Darkrai.

Just then, the ghost of a Bibarel swam through the air, past their faces—and through the wall of a house!

"Y-you saw that, right?" asked Ash. The appearance of the ghost alarmed him greatly.

But Pikachu had just noticed something else. _"Pika!"_

A shadow swiftly flew past them on the wall and onto the ground. It was Darkrai!

Ash couldn't let the Pokémon escape from him again. "Quick, Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" he ordered.

_"Pikaaachuuuuuuuu!"_

_"Aagh!"_

Pikachu's attack had struck Darkrai dead on! He rose out of the ground to see Ash and Pikachu prepared for a battle.

"Okay, Pikachu, now use Volt Tackle!"

"_Pikachu!"_

Pikachu dashed toward Darkrai. As it did, an aura of electricity covered it, making it look like a lightning-covered comet that was charging straight toward Darkrai.

Darkrai's body flashed for a short moment. Then he separated into a countless number of Darkrai that surrounded Pikachu!

Pikachu was not a Pokémon to be easily hindered. _"Pika!"_ It charged into the team of Darkrai, trying to hit the real one. So far, however, it seemed to be hitting the illusions…

Ash watched his little Electric-type friend bravely attack with its Volt Tackle.

Eventually, Pikachu gave up. The electricity around it disappeared, and it ran back to Ash.

Ash was fuming. "Look, Darkrai!" he shouted at him. "The only one leaving here is _you_!"

The illusionary Darkrai disappeared, revealing the real one. _"No,"_ he said, his blue eyes flashing dangerously. _"I'll stay."_

Ash frowned. "What…?"

_"Pika…?"_

Just then, Baron Alberto, Lickilicky, and Team Rocket arrived at the scene.

"Let _me_ handle this," announced Alberto. "Darkrai is mine."

Ash was surprised to see him. "Baron!"

"Lickilicky! Use Hyper Beam!" Alberto commanded.

Lickilicky opened its mouth, and a beam of fire shot out.

_Boom!_ A cloud of smoke appeared. Everybody began to hack and cough.

But when the smoke cleared, Darkrai wasn't there!

All of a sudden, Darkrai, who had flown above the houses, hurled out a Dark Void.

This one hit its target.

Lickilicky teetered for a moment, then collapsed with a _thud_. On the ground, it twitched and jerked around, trapped in a world of nightmares.

Alberto was shocked. "Lickilicky!" He looked up and glowered at Darkrai, who was slowly descending from the air and into the ground.

"Ugh…" Alberto knelt down and shook around his fallen Pokémon. "Get up, Lickilicky! This is no time for a nap!" Then Lickilicky's tongue slurped Alberto's face. _"Bleh!"_

Ash and Pikachu rushed toward Darkrai, but it was too late. He was already gone.

Then the ghostly Bibarel suddenly reappeared!

"Again?" exclaimed Ash.

The Bibarel flew toward Alberto and Team Rocket.

_"Gah!"_ cried the trio.

"What's _dat_ thing?" yelped Meowth, aiming the camera at it.

James quickly jumped aside as the ghost veered to its left and went through a wall.

"An ultra-rare Pokémon?" asked Jessie.

"That flies through walls?" added James, terrified.

"It can't be real," Alberto declared.

Lickilicky continued to sleep on the ground. Then its body glowed with a faint pink light!

Alberto stood up. His body glowed, too. Then he morphed right in front of Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket's eyes!

Jessie was shocked. "_Waah!_ Maybe so, but…what are you up to?" she shrieked.

James was trembling uncontrollably, unable to speak.

"What?" said the Lickilicky. Its voice sounded like Baron Alberto's!

Meowth took a shot of the Lickilicky. "It can't be real, but dis is _impossible_!"

"B-b-b-b-but Baron!" James protested.

The Lickilicky grew impatient. It waved its arms as it said, "Spit it out, I say!"

Ash stared at the scene and shook his head in confusion. "Man, I must be having another nightmare!" He faced Pikachu. "Pikachu! I want you to hurry and wake me up!"

Pikachu nodded. Then it zapped Ash with a Thunderbolt.

_"AAAAAAAH!"_ he shrieked. When Pikachu was finished, his eyes were wide open. "Ugh… Eh…"

Jessie grinned strangely at the Lickilicky-transformed Baron Alberto. Then she held up a mirror in front of his face. Behind Jessie, James was shaking with laughter.

That was when the Baron realized what had happened.

Throughout the city of Alamos Town, one single scream could be heard:

_"MY ROYAL ATTIRE!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> AHAHAHA! That Baron. He's an idiot. And I wonder how he got transformed into Lickilicky…

**Palkia:** Let me guess: courtesy of Darkrai?

**Darkrai:** Why must everybody blame every wrongdoing on _me_?

**Storm:** And I wonder what that big explosion was about…

**Dialga:** _*growling at Darkrai*_ Why…did…you…put…all…those…innocent…Pokémon…to sleep?

**Palkia:** To be more exact: Why did you put all those innocent Pokémon to a _nightmare_-filled sleep?

**Darkrai:** …You'll find out later. No spoilers allowed.

**Storm:** _*pouts*_ Hey! _I'm_ supposed to say that!

**Dialga:** You are so _evil_, Darkrai_…_

**Storm:** Um. Yeah. Anyway, see you readers later! And, by the way, if you see a new chapter updated earlier than usual, that's because I'm…well, bored. Bye! Chapter 6: coming soon!

**Darkrai:** Maybe _too_ soon_…_

**Storm:** Shut up.


	7. Trapped!

**Storm:** _*laughing his head off*_ AHAHAHA! I am such a lawbreaker. I've decided _not_ to follow my update-each-new-chapter-on-Saturday rule. Here is Chapter 6!

**Darkrai:** _*sigh*_ I knew it. The update _was_ a little too soon.

**Dialga:** Anyway, Storm does not own Pokémon.

**Palkia:** And please enjoy. By the way, things in _italics_ are flashbacks. And once again, please enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Trapped!<strong>

The sky had changed while Ash was pursuing Darkrai. Before, it was bright, blue, and sunny…but now, it was cloudy, dark, and dreary.

Nobody cared about the sky, though. Ash and Pikachu had given up their chase. Meanwhile, Dawn, Brock, and the other Pokémon Trainers and their sleeping Pokémon were at the Pokémon Center.

Sudowoodo grimaced as Nurse Joy carefully examined it. Brock was feeling very anxious.

"N-Nurse Joy," he stammered, "I think I could use an exam, too… Ugh…" He stared ahead. "It's these…hallucinations! Ugh!" He quickly leaned back as a ghostly Buizel flew between him and the nurse, whirling its tail like a propeller.

"But I've seen them, too!" Nurse Joy said softly as it flew away.

The other Trainers were tending to their Pokémon. A girl looked up from her Houndour and saw the ghost Buizel fly through the ceiling. A ghostly Bronzor flew by, spinning around as it did. Then the bulky body of a ghostly Tropius appeared and flew over the heads of the people.

_"Chansey, chansey, chansey!"_

A Chansey rushed into the room, followed by Alice and Tonio. The three of them ran over to where Dawn, Brock, Nurse Joy, Buizel, and Sudowoodo were. Chansey smoothed out a blanket on the floor, and Alice and Tonio gently placed a Pidgey and a Murkrow on it. Both of the Pokémon where in a nightmarish state. Piplup gazed at them sadly, unable to help them.

"I guess you're all a little shook up," said Alice quietly. Next to her, Tonio began to rummage through his bag for his laptop.

"I think you're right," Dawn agreed with a worried expression on her face.

Suddenly, Ash and Pikachu burst into the room.

"Guys!" yelled Ash. "We've got a problem!" He ran too fast and stumbled over his own feet.

"We've got a problem here, too!" Dawn told him. Then she and the others all turned their heads at an unbelievable sight.

A Lickilicky was waddling into the room.

And it was _talking_.

"Really!" it scoffed. "Well, excuse me, people, but you don't even know the meaning of the word 'problem'!"

Everyone but Ash and Pikachu gasped. "Huh?"

Dawn jabbed her finger at the Lickilicky, amazed. "Since when did Lickilicky talk?" she shrieked.

"I am _not_ Lickilicky!" the transformed baron shouted. Then he quickly shook his head and showed the yellow scarf around his body. "I am the Baron Alberto!"

"No way!"

_"Piplup!"_

Alberto toddled over to Tonio, who was holding his laptop. "Quick, Tonio!" he said. "Turn me back at _once_!"

"You _act_ like Alberto," said Alice.

"He's telling the truth!" Ash reassured her hastily. "He turned into Lickilicky right in front of us!"

_"Pika pika,"_ agreed Pikachu, jumping onto his shoulder.

"It's us!" moaned a voice.

Jessie, James, and Meowth entered the room, huffing and puffing as they carried Alberto's Lickilicky.

"We saw the whole thing in our eyes, too!" Jessie grimaced as she told them that. Then she and James and Meowth dumped Lickilicky onto the floor.

"It's the real deal, it's true!" groaned James, propping his head on the side of Lickilicky's big stomach.

Everyone stood up. Tonio was reading his laptop when the ghostly Buizel came flying by again. "Huh?" Then he looked back at the data the laptop was showing.

The laptop displayed a sleeping form that looked a lot like Lickilicky. Rising out of the sleeping Lickilicky was another form that was shaped just like the human Baron Alberto.

"The real world merging with the dream world!" he said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Alice.

"All these Pokémon are dreaming that they're being chased by something frightening!"

"And what about me?" demanded Alberto.

Kneeling down, the scientist replied, "I guess Lickilicky must be dreaming that it turned into you."

"Say _what_?"

"The space around our city is being acted on by a powerful force, creating a space-time anomaly," explained Tonio, "resulting in all the strange things we've been witnessing!" Now his laptop was showing the space around Alamos Town.

But Alice was wondering about something else. "Why?"

"I don't know."

Flapping his arms up and down, Alberto shouted, "It's that Darkrai! Every time it appears, strange things happen! Don't you see?"

Tonio was still not sure. "Perhaps…"

Alberto stepped back and went to his Lickilicky. "Lickilicky, you must wake up this instant and go destroy Darkrai!" He held up its head and shook it around.

"And then," muttered James, "what about our report?"

"We ain't got enough stuff to fill a kiddie pool!" replied Meowth.

"Look," hissed Jessie impatiently. "First, we'll get Darkrai, and then we'll dig deep."

Just then, Maury, Kai, and Allegra ran inside.

"Listen, people, we're stuck!" said Allegra.

"It's the craziest thing!" added Maury.

"We're trapped in town and we can't leave!" Kai explained.

_"Trapped?"_ Ash gasped.

This was definitely something to check out.

-ooo-

The whole town was enshrouded in a thick white fog that completely surrounded the town. At the bridge, the people and their Pokémon stared ahead at the place where the rest of the bridge was covered by the fog. Then Allegra threw out a Poké Ball, and out came a Honchkrow—a Flying-and Dark-type Pokémon that was the last evolution of Murkrow. _"Honchkrow!"_ it squawked.

"Now, Honchkrow, Defog!" ordered Allegra.

Honchkrow's wings began to glow with a pale blue light. Then, with a cry of _"Honchkrow!"_ it released spinning blue crescents out of its wings and into the fog.

Defog was supposed to clear the fog, hence its name. But the crescents simply whirled through the fog, failing to wipe it out!

"Defog didn't do a _thing_!" cried Brock.

"No matter which way we try to escape, we always end up where we started!" Kai said.

But Ash wanted to try it out. "I'll be back!" He began to run…straight into the strange fog. Pikachu followed him.

The others couldn't believe their eyes. "Huh?"

Ash and Pikachu ran deeper into the fog, unable to see a thing. But they simply ran on and on and on and—

The fog cleared.

And before Ash's eyes were the same people, Pokémon, and houses he had just run _away_ from!

"Uh…" Ash looked behind him at the creeping fog. "But I know we ran straight!"

Pikachu was bewildered. _"Pikachu?"_

But Alberto was sure that it was Darkrai. "It's that Darkrai, no doubt up to one of its evil tricks," he declared, "and nothing is going to change until we destroy the nasty demon!"

"It's nice to see Baron Lickilicky back up to speed!" Jessie piped up.

"Baron _Alberto_!" The baron, steaming at what Jessie called him, slurped her face with his wet, sticky tongue. Disgusted, Jessie wiped her face, muttering something incomprehensible.

Alberto faced his audience again. "Pokémon Trainers, lend me your ears, your strength, and your expertise! We must destroy this lonesome and evil Darkrai! And now…follow me into the fray!"

"RIGHT!"

Alberto turned and waddled away with Team Rocket and the Trainers walking after

him. Soon, only Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup, Brock, Alice, Tonio, Maury, Kai, and Allegra were left.

Allegra looked at Maury and Kai. "What do you think?" she asked.

"They need us," Kai told her.

"Yeah," said Maury. With that, the three Trainers walked away and left Ash and his friends.

Ash turned to look at Dawn and Brock. "They need us, too!"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah." The three Trainers began to follow Maury, Kai, and Allegra when Alice suddenly spoke up. "Hold on."

"Huh?" The Trainers turned around.

"Alice?" asked Brock.

"The truth is, I don't think Darkrai is behind any of this!" said Alice.

"What?" said Ash.

"But…it must be Darkrai!" Dawn said.

Then Tonio stepped up. "No, it's a bit too early to be certain." Lowering his voice, he continued, "You see…back when I was a boy, Alice and I were playing together in the garden…"

_Young Tonio rushed along the dirt path, searching for his friend Alice. Where could she possibly be?_

_"Tonio!" sang out a voice from above him._

_"Huh?" He looked up._

_There was Alice, standing precariously at the very edge of a steep cliff and waving at him! "Yoo-hoo!" she called. "I'm up here! Come on up and play with me!" She giggled and dashed off._

_Tonio was shocked. "No! It's dangerous up there! Look where you're going!"_

_"Don't worry, I'm fine—"_

_Crack._

_A chunk of rock detached from the cliff and tumbled toward the ground—with Alice!_

"AAAAAAAAAH!"_ she screamed helplessly._

_Time seemed to slow down as Tonio rushed toward Alice, who drifted into unconsciousness as she plummeted toward the ground._

_"Alice!" he shouted. He urged his legs to move faster, but deep in his heart, he knew that he just couldn't reach Alice before she landed—_

_Then he saw it._

_A shadow-like figure appeared out of nowhere, snatched Alice out of the air, and leaped back into the bushes with her._

_"What—?" gasped Tonio._

-ooo-

_The shadow-like creature gently lowered Alice onto the grass. When Tonio came over, running worriedly, it was gone. But he was there just in time to see a wispy shadow zooming away into the trees._

_Tonio knelt next to Alice and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was all right. Then he glanced up—and he saw a figure clad in black merging into the ground within the shadows of the trees. He gasped when he realized what had happened, then turned back to Alice and tried to wake her up by shaking her shoulders._

_"Alice, are you okay?" He held up her shoulders, praying for the best. "Say something!_ Alice!_"_

_The little girl stirred. Then she slowly opened her eyes to see her friend anxiously hovering over her. "Tonio," she murmured. "Oh, you saved my life, Tonio!"_

_Tonio hesitated. Should he tell Alice about the unknown shadowy figure? But before he could make up his mind, he gave a yelp of surprise when Alice threw her arms around him and gushed, "Tonio, I love you!"_

_And so, the two children sat in the grass together, as happy as they could be…_

"But the truth is, I didn't save Alice that day," whispered Tonio. Looking into Alice's eyes, he said, "Now I'm sure of it… It was _Darkrai_ who saved you that day!"

Alice was stunned. "Oh… Oh, Tonio!"

"Godey's diary also says that it was your grandmother Alicia who opened up Darkrai's heart!" the scientist went on. "I don't believe that Darkrai's evil, either."

But Dawn was still uncertain. "Then why is Darkrai fighting with everyone?" Pikachu and Piplup agreed with a nod.

"Something's keeping everybody from being able to leave town!" Ash added.

"I don't have all the answers yet," said Tonio. "For now, we just hang on."

The three Trainers looked at each other and shrugged.

"Hmm. Yeah."

-ooo-

"We join the venerable Baron Lickilicky and his unstoppable Pokémon Trainers as their quest to destroy Darkrai gets into full sway!" announced Jessie into her microphone. Once again, Alberto slurped her face.

"It's Baron Alberto," he muttered grumpily.

Suddenly, Maury stopped in his tracks. "There it is!" he yelled. Everybody stopped, too, and he pointed. "It's Darkrai!"

They all turned their heads—and there he was.

Darkrai stood on the top of the chimney of a house, staring at the Space-Time Towers in a way that seemed to make it look like he knew something that nobody else did…

-ooo-

Up in the air, Tonio's Drifblim flew around the towers. The equipment that was attached to it took videos of the scene. The videos were sent back to Tonio, who sat at his desk in his lab, watching the videos and reading his laptop at the same time. He began to think.

"Let's see," the scientist said to himself. "The space-time anomalies began occurring after Darkrai appeared." On his laptop, he flipped through different photos of the ransacked pillars in the garden. "But at this point, the nightmares hadn't yet materialized. It didn't take Ash very long to wake up…" Now he turned to the computer's screen and played the different videos his Drifblim had sent him: a video of the bridge; a video of the alley in the town; and finally, a video of the explosion that happened between the Space-Time Towers.

"Soon after that, Darkrai appeared in the square. After that…" He glanced down at his laptop, which was showing the sleeping form of Lickilicky with a Baron Alberto figure rising out of it. "_That's_ when the nightmares materialized!"

Tonio gasped, then turned back to the computer screen and watched as the huge explosion died out and finished with the smaller one.

"_Now_ I see!" he exclaimed. He played the video in reverse and paused it. "That has to be the defining events!" He began to zoom in on the center of the explosion. Closer and closer he went—until he could see the tangled figure of a huge creature in the midst of the explosion's light.

_"What's this?!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> RAAAAAAAAGH! DARKRAI'S _EVIL_! _*starts chasing Darkrai with a Home-Run Bat from Super Smash Bros. Brawl*_

**Darkrai:** _*running for his life*_ YOU'RE JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS!

**Storm:** WELL, YOU'RE JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE FACT THAT I'M JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS!

_As Storm Aurastar goes on with the chase…_

**Dialga:** _*staring*_ …I sort of knew that that was going to happen.

**Palkia:** That's good! Darkrai is evil, so it's good that Storm is chasing him…_*listens intently to what Storm is shouting*_…and threatening to beat off Darkrai's head with that bat of his…

**Dialga:** I wonder what that "huge creature" was…

**Palkia:** Probably one of us.

**Dialga:** Right. So, while Storm is a bit preoccupied with his business—well, his _pain-giving_ business, that is—wait for Chapter 7 to arrive! Bye!

**Palkia:** The update will probably be too soon again…

**Dialga:** I bet it is.


	8. War of Time and Space

**Darkrai:** …The update _was_ too soon. It's only been one day.

**Storm:** I told you, I'm breaking my Saturday rule!

**Dialga: **…All right, then. Here is Chapter 7.

**Palkia:** Storm does not own Pokémon. Pokémon belongs to Nintendo and Game Freak, Inc.

**Storm:** Please enjoy! (And let's see what Darkrai does _this_ time…)

**Darkrai:** Excuse me?

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: War of Time and Space<strong>

While Tonio was frantically gaping at his new discovery, Maury, Kai, Allegra, and the others had assaulted Darkrai and were having a battle—on the houses' roofs.

_"Urgh!"_ Darkrai struggled to protect himself from the searing fire of Infernape's Flamethrower. When he looked up, Infernape was standing before him, snarling. In the air, a Masquerain (a Bug- and Flying-type with two wings that had eye-like patterns), a Crobat (a purple, four-winged bat-like Flying- and Poison-type), and a Ledian (a red ladybug-like Bug- and Flying-type with two pairs of punching hands) circled him angrily.

From the ground, Allegra gave her Infernape instructions. "Infernape, Mach Punch, _go_!"

Infernape charged at Darkrai, its glowing right fist drawn back to clobber Darkrai with a Mach Punch. Darkrai quickly stepped off the roof and landed on the ground, where Kai and his Empoleon were.

Pointing at Darkrai, Kai ordered, "Empoleon, use Ice Beam!"

Empoleon opened its beak and sent out a bolt of blue ice. _"Empol!"_ The Ice Beam struck Darkrai and froze him! But three seconds later, Darkrai broke free. Then he looked around himself.

A huge team that consisted of Infernape, Empoleon, Torterra, Tangrowth (a large, blue-green Grass-type), Stunky (a small, purple skunk-like Poison- and Dark-type that gave off a terrible scent), Rhydon (a gray rhino-like Ground- and Rock-type that had a sharp horn on its nose and appeared to be covered with armor), Masquerain, Crobat, and Ledian had completely surrounded him, sealing any chances of escape!

"Torterra!" yelled Maury. "Bullet Seed, _now_!"

"_Terra!"_ Glowing white seeds shot out of Torterra's mouth and slammed into Darkrai. _"Urgh!"_ he cried. A cloud of smoke engulfed him and hid him from view.

_"Infernape!"_ screeched Infernape, sending out a Flamethrower.

_"Empoleon!"_ shrieked Empoleon, using Ice Beam.

The other Pokémon also released their attacks. Stunky and Rhydon both used Hyper Beam, and Tangrowth used SolarBeam. All the attacks mercilessly struck Darkrai!

"Darkrai is in a bad way!" said Jessie into the microphone as Meowth videotaped the whole scene. "Could this be the end?"

_BOOM!_

_"Empol!"_

_"Terra!"_

_"Infer!"_

All the Pokémon were thrown back from a powerful blast of dark energy—Dark Pulse! Darkrai reappeared, looking unharmed, and unleashed his Dark Void attack. _"Do not interfere!"_

One by one, each Pokémon was put to sleep. They all collapsed onto the ground with several heavy _thuds_.

Allegra gasped when she saw one of the orbs hit Infernape. She rushed to its side, crying, "Infernape! _No!_ Wake up!"

One moment ago, the team of Pokémon were up and fighting. Now, they were all knocked out—just by one move from Darkrai.

Jessie was awed. "That move was simply…_lovely_!" she exclaimed. When James and Baron Alberto turned to look at her, she hastily corrected herself. "Er, I mean, _Darkrai's evil plans must be stopped_!"

"Since there's nobody who can do so better that you, why don't you?" James asked Alberto.

"You _do_ strike an imposing pose," said Jessie sweetly. James giggled.

"I guess I _could_ take advantage of this situation," agreed Alberto. Flapping his arms, he went on determinedly, "I've got it, and I'm going with it! Go, _Gyro Ball_!"

The baron spun furiously toward Darkrai, who easily dodged the move. Then Alberto stopped spinning and shouted, "Now it's Wrap!" He shot out his long tongue—and snagged Darkrai!

_"Wha—?"_ The Pokémon of nightmares was shocked at his opponent's sudden attack.

Alberto was proud of himself. "Heh-heh-heh!" he chuckled. "Not bad!"

Then Darkrai did something that was completely unexpected.

He began to swing Alberto around and around! The baron's tongue was too slippery to hang on—and he flew straight into Team Rocket!

"_We're blasting off agaaaaaain!"_ the trio shrieked as they and Alberto flew into the trees.

In the Pokémon Center, Tonio showed Ash and his friends the image of the Pokémon on his laptop. "Look at this!" he said as he zoomed it in.

It was a Pokémon that was mostly whitish-pink with magenta stripes, two wings on its back, a short tail, two pearls in the center of its shoulders, and glaring eyes.

Ash recognized it. "Hey, that's the same thing from my dreams!"

Everybody looked at him, confused. "Huh?"

Then Tonio spoke up again. "Look closely. I'll digitally enhance the image." He spun a knob, and the picture became clearer.

"Oh, my," murmured Alice.

"Palkia…isn't it?" guessed Brock.

"Yes," replied Tonio. "It is said that Palkia lives between dimensions and rules space. A Pokémon that's been called a deity!"

"A _deity_?" exclaimed Dawn.

"When the garden was turned into a wasteland," the scientist went on, ignoring Dawn's outburst of surprise, "it was a sign of Palkia's appearance! Darkrai sensed what was about to happen. It was at the moment when the sky lit up that Palkia burst into the city."

"But Darkrai was the only one who saw!" realized Ash.

Tonio nodded. "Right."

Ash thought about how Darkrai seemed to say, _"Go away!"_ to them. But he wasn't, after all. "Darkrai said that to _Palkia_!" he said to Dawn. "And that's just what Darkrai was trying to tell me in my dream! About _Palkia_!"

Dawn gasped. "So that means Palkia's here!"

"But where's _that_?" wondered Brock.

Tonio didn't reply, but he knew the answer to Brock's question. On his laptop, he stared at a diagram of the space around Alamos Town…and one particular spot directly above the Space-Time Towers was emitting an unusually powerful spatial energy…

He had no idea that Darkrai was about to tell him the answer when he and the others ran outside.

-ooo-

Outside on the roof of a house, Darkrai watched the area between the Time Tower and the Space Tower, where a strange bubble-like object was floating. He glowered at it and soared into the air as he said, _"Here!"_

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio ran out of the Pokémon Center and arrived at the town square. There in the air they saw a small, black figure rushing toward the towers.

"Is that…?" began Dawn.

"…Darkrai," finished Ash. His eyes trailed after Darkrai, who swiftly flew toward the object that only he knew exactly where it was—

_Bam!_

_"Aagh!"_ he yelled. He had been knocked back by the bubble! The force of the impact blasted him down, down, down—and he smashed onto the stone floor.

Ash was shocked. "Darkrai, no!" Then he and his friends looked up at the place Darkrai crashed into. There they saw a blurry bubble that was emitting waves of spatial energy…and something was curled up inside it…

"That's Palkia!" said Ash.

"Oh, my…" Alice was worried.

_"Piplup…"_

_"Pika…"_

Just then, Darkrai shot out of the hole in the ground, dashed back at the bubble, and shouted, _"Go away!"_ as he attacked with a Dark Pulse, which slammed into the bubble.

Within the bubble, the Pokémon stirred. Then it snapped open its bright, red eyes.

The gray clouds cleared. The sky was now black with swirling clouds and blue and red lightning.

_"PARURURURURU!"_ the Pokémon roared.

It was the deity.

The deity of space.

_It's the Pokémon from the nightmare that Darkrai gave me!_ Ash realized.

Palkia!

-ooo-

In the Pokémon Center, the illusionary Buizel whirled past Nurse Joy and a Chansey—and vanished! The moment it did, the real, sleeping Buizel grimaced…and woke up. _"Bui…?"_

Nurse Joy smiled happily. "Buizel!"

_"Bibarel…"_ The sleeping Bibarel gave a huge yawn and awoke.

The ghostly Tropius and Girafarig disappeared. With a jolt, the real Tropius and Girafarig were awake.

"Houndour!" cried the little girl whose Houndour had just woken up. Her Pokémon leaped into her waiting arms and barked happily.

The moment Sudowoodo woke up, it jumped up and saluted. _"Sudowoodo!"_ Nurse Joy laughed.

After turning around a bit, a confused Lickilicky woke up, too.

The Lickilicky-transformed Baron Alberto trudged up the stairs, exhausted. He collapsed onto the ground…and his body glowed! Within a moment, he had morphed again.

Puzzled, Alberto glanced at his hands. They weren't fat or pink like a Lickilicky's… They were like a person's.

Baron Alberto had changed back into his own self!

The baron ran to a window and examined himself. Delighted, he struck a pose in the reflection of the glass and proudly said, "All right! I'm me! _Wonderful me!_" he yelled up at the sky. Then he noticed what had changed. "Wha—?"

The sky was black with clouds and lightning!

_"Enough for one day!"_

-ooo-

Tonio examined the data on his computer. It was showing that the town was in another place—and it definitely was _not_ his home dimension.

"The town is floating in another dimension!" he said. The others crowded around him, shocked by the news.

_"Bui bui!"_

_"Sudowoodo!"_

Buizel and Sudowoodo suddenly came into view. They dashed toward their Trainers, full of bliss. Behind them was Lickilicky, who joyfully whirled around and ran off in search of its master Baron Alberto.

"Yeah!"

"Hooray!"

As Dawn and Brock hugged their Pokémon, Alice said, "Everyone's awake!"

"Of course!" Tonio exclaimed. Yurning back to his laptop, he said, "Palkia transported the town to another dimension, so when Darkrai's nightmares became fixed in the unstable space, they acquired material form!"

With a tremendous _thump_, Palkia landed on the ground in front of the Space-Time Towers. _"PARURURURURU!"_

On its left shoulder, a pearl flickered faintly.

Alice saw it first. "It looks like Palkia's hurt!"

Ash and his friends saw it, too, and realized that she was right—a long gash ran through the pearl. Then, with a gasp, they all turned their heads and looked up.

Darkrai had unexpectedly unleashed a Dark Pulse attack on Palkia. The Spacial Pokémon took the blow and was engulfed in a thick cloud of dust.

_"Aagh!"_ The people were stunned.

When the smoke cleared, Palkia had its arms folded protectively in front of its body. With a bellowing roar, it suddenly spread its wings, clearing out the dust and smoke, and flew into the air where Darkrai was.

Darkrai held out his hands and used Shock Wave. Palkia quickly protected itself with a pink bubble, and the lightning harmlessly surrounded the bubble. Then Palkia flew forward and swung its powerful arm down at Darkrai, who evaded it and flew off.

Palkia was enraged. It followed the Pitch-Black Pokémon around the Space-Time Towers. As Darkrai led Palkia away from the towers, Palkia put its hands together and formed a pink ball of energy—Aura Sphere—and threw it at Darkrai!

Darkrai saw the attack at the very last moment, and he whirled around and sent out a Shock Wave. The bolt of electricity met the energy ball, and with a _boom_, the two moves canceled each other out.

From down below, Ash and his friends watched the battle, terror pulsing through their bodies.

Then, from the sky, they heard another roar.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAA!"_

_Boom! Boom! KABOOM! BAM!_

Hundreds of glowing meteors showered down from the sky! Several of them hit Darkrai, but most of them seemed to be aiming for Palkia…

"What's _that_?" yelped Dawn.

Ash looked to his right. "Look there!

A colossal Pokémon, mostly blue with light blue stripes and a steel fan on its back, a steel chest plate with a diamond embedded in the center, and angry, red eyes, descended from the black sky. It collided into Palkia and slammed it down into the midst of a cluster of houses.

_KABOOM!_ The force of the crash was so powerful that the houses and lamps around the site began to disintegrate into pink particles!

Unfortunately for Team Rocket, Palkia and the blue Pokémon had nearly landed right on top of them. They fled from the scene, screaming for their dear lives. _"WAAAAAAAH!"_

Palkia got up onto its feet. It grabbed its opponent's head, shoved it onto the ground to make it lose its balance, and sped away into the air. The blue Pokémon shakily stood back up and roared furiously.

Team Rocket was still running when Palkia suddenly flew overhead, knocking them off their feet. Then the blue Pokémon rushed by, causing the trio to tumble through the air and land on the ground with three _thuds_.

Palkia raced away from its enemy, who attacked with a beam of fire—Hyper Beam! The attack struck Palkia's back as it flew, and it howled with pain. It lost altitude and crashed through the stone floor with a sickening crunch and _KABOOM_. Its opponent landed lightly on the ground and growled with triumph.

Ash and his friends watched the Pokémon, numb with horror and shock.

"Who's _that_?" asked Alice, watching the blue Pokémon.

"That's the Pokémon said to govern all of time," Tonio said softly. "Dialga!"

Dialga gave a tremendous roar. Blue waves of temporal power surged through the dimension. The clock on the Time Tower spun wildly in circles!

_"Aaaagh!"_ yelled the Pokémon Trainers, Alice, and Tonio. When the waves of power faded away, they regained their balance and watched as Palkia slowly stood up and bellowed at Dialga, who roared back.

"They're both considered to be deities," commented Brock.

Tonio looked at his laptop, which was showing the temporal and spatial energy in the dimension. "Hmm… Palkia and Dialga must have battled in between dimensions! And so, the wounded Palkia must have fled here, sealing the town in yet another dimension…attempting to hide itself from Dialga!"

Darkrai carefully watched the two powerful Pokémon from the air, tensing himself for the great battle that would develop in just a matter of minutes…

Dialga opened its mouth and sent out a Hyper Beam. At the same time, Palkia released an Aura Sphere. The two moves crashed into each other and exploded.

_"Waah!"_ cried Ash, Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio.

Dialga and Palkia took off into the sky. Dialga sent Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam at Palkia, who was nimbly avoiding them while throwing out Aura Spheres. All the while, the two Pokémon chased each other, enraged.

Then Palkia used Aura Sphere once again. Dialga flew off to the side, leaving the ball to fly toward the Space-Time Towers.

All of a sudden, Darkrai appeared and let the Aura Sphere slam into him, shielding the towers from damage!

"Two entities that never should have met crossed paths in the space-time rift… Their unrivaled wrath has enveloped the city!" Tonio stared at Dialga and Palkia. "And the result—destruction."

"What do you mean?" cried Alice.

Looking back up at the sky, Tonio replied, "The nightmare I read about in Godey's diary… It's happening here and now—right before our eyes!"

"Wait. You're saying that Godey was dreaming about _future events_?"

Tonio nodded. "Yes!"

Dialga's diamond began to glow with a bright, blue light. It roared as the fan on its back extended.

Palkia's two pearls—even the cracked one—began to glow with a bright, pink light. It roared and lifted its head.

On Tonio's laptop's screen, a circle—one half representing the spatial power and the other half representing the temporal power—lit up. Tonio saw it and gasped with horror.

"_Tremendous_ energy!" he yelled, looking up with fear in his heart.

Palkia roared and held up its arm, absorbing pink particles of energy.

Dialga roared and opened its mouth, absorbing blue particles of energy.

Palkia swung its arm down, releasing a huge, pink crescent of spatial energy—Spatial Rend!

Dialga released a huge, indigo beam of temporal energy—Roar of Time!

The two moves met.

And they exploded.

The result was the greatest _KABOOM_ that Ash had ever felt in his life! The blast sent powerful waves that nearly blew him and his friends off their feet! Up in the air, Darkrai struggled to stay in the air without getting blown away! Temporal and spatial power surged through Alamos Town and the dimension it was in! It was so powerful that the houses immediately began to crumble into tiny particles that disappeared into the air!

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup, Buizel, Brock, Sudowoodo, Alice, and Tonio were all on the ground when the waves died away. "Everyone okay?" asked Alice.

"Y-yeah," Ash replied shakily.

"Guess so," said Brock. Then they looked back up to see Dialga and Palkia slamming into each other and trying to clobber each other with their claws. Then Dialga used Hyper Beam. Palkia dodged it and Dialga tried again. This time, the Hyper Beam landed right in the garden!

_"Bee!"_ cried several desperate Combee, fleeing from the fire.

Everybody saw the explosion in the garden, but Alice was beyond concerned. She looked back up at Dialga and Palkia's brawl, and once again, another of Dialga's Hyper Beams burned a path in the garden that Alice had always loved.

She knew that she couldn't let the two Pokémon destroy any more of the garden that was every person and Pokémon's beloved haven. She ran out to the center of the wrecked square before Tonio could turn around and stop her.

"Alice, _wait_!" he shouted. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Alice ignored him and stopped until she was directly under the site of Dialga and Palkia's brawl. "Stop fighting right now!" she begged.

Palkia wrapped its arms around Dialga's neck. Dialga shook Palkia off and slammed into Palkia's chest. Then Palkia grabbed Dialga's head, and the two of them plummeted toward the square below—straight for Alice!

_"Ahhh!"_ she screamed.

She could not move. She could not run. Terror kept her fixed to the ground as her doom drew closer and closer…

Suddenly, a Pokémon flew in front of Alice and blasted both Dialga and Palkia back into the air with a Dark Pulse.

Alice couldn't believe her eyes. "D-Darkrai?!"

Dialga and Palkia flew high into the sky, and Darkrai followed them and hovered between them. Dialga attacked with a Hyper Beam, which Palkia and Darkrai evaded, and Palkia retaliated with an Aura Sphere that missed Darkrai and hit Dialga. Enraged, the Temporal Pokémon roared, _"DIAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ and flew back into the air.

Just then, Maury, Kai, Allegra, and several other Pokémon Trainers arrived at the town square to see Darkrai facing both Dialga and Palkia. They all gasped with horror at the sight.

Around and around in circles did Dialga and Palkia pursue their new enemy in the black, lightning-filled sky. Then Darkrai found the opportunity to try put the two Pokémon to sleep to end their terrible battle once and for all. _"Go away!"_ he shouted as he released hundreds of Dark Voids.

Unfortunately for him, Dialga and Palkia both had another secret in store. They put up protective barriers, and the Dark Void orbs glanced harmlessly off the barriers. Then, without any warning at all, they attacked at the same time with a Hyper Beam and an Aura Sphere.

_KABOOM!_

The two moves struck Darkrai dead on! A cloud of foul smoke puffed out, and Darkrai shot out of it and plunged into the trees.

Alice was horrified. "Darkrai!" She ran to the place where Darkrai landed, and the others all dashed after her.

Up in the air, Palkia flew away from Dialga, who followed, bellowing with rage…

-ooo-

Alice ran and ran and ran—and stopped when she noticed a black, white, and red figure lying against a tree, motionless.

Alice gasped and rushed over to the unconscious Darkrai's side. A moment later, Ash and his friends arrived and followed her.

Gallade, Shinx, Luxio, and three Kricketot all watched as Alice knelt down before Darkrai. As Darkrai opened his eyes, Alice placed a comforting hand on him. "Darkrai," she said softly, "you all right?"

Darkrai stared at her. Could she be the very same person from before who was the first person to befriend him? _"Alicia…?"_

Alice smiled and shook her head. "My name's Alice. You see, Alicia was my grandmother."

_"…Alice…"_

Ash and the others ran toward Darkrai as Alice continued, "You tried to protect our town. I'm sorry I didn't understand."

"Yeah, me, too," added Ash. Darkrai looked at him.

_"Pika…"_

"Darkrai, forgive us!" pleaded Dawn.

But Darkrai didn't reply. Instead, he sank into the ground and vanished.

"Wha—?" Everyone was stunned. Then a loud _boom_ made them look back up at the sky—and they saw a huge cloud of smoke…and Darkrai flying into the air, despite his pains.

Alice stepped forward, worried greatly about Darkrai's safety. "Darkrai, _no_!"

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ A shadow-like aura on Dialga's forehead appeared. It reared up and unleashed hundreds of meteors onto Palkia. It was a powerful Draco Meteor attack!

Darkrai flew in front of the Space-Time Towers, shouting a war cry as he used a powerful Dark Pulse to stop the Draco Meteors. It worked, and as a result, only a couple of them found their way down and crashed into the trees.

On the bridge, Ash and his friends ran to the railing and watched as the buildings crumbled into disintegrating pieces. More houses were disappearing by the minute!

"Check it out, guys!" said Ash.

"What's happening?" cried Dawn as Maury, Kai, and Allegra joined them to watch the destruction.

"It's the town's perimeter wall!" Tonio said, looking at his laptop, which showed a picture of the space in the dimension and flashed a message that read, _"STIMULATION COMPLETE,"_ and showed a diagram of Alamos Town collapsing into itself. The others looked at the screen as he continued, "It's begun to collapse!"

All through the town, people were screaming and fleeing from the terrible battle in the sky—_and_ the disappearing buildings.

"If we don't act, everything will disappear into the nether dimension!" yelled Tonio.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket was running as fast as they could from the spatial energy that ate away everything in its path.

_"This is the kind of blasting off we don't need!"_ they shrieked as they ran.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> HOLY CRAP.

**Dialga:** Turns out that Darkrai—

**Palkia:** —Is _not_ evil at _all_!

**Darkrai:** Told you so.

**Dialga:** _*indignantly*_ You didn't tell us anything about that!

**Darkrai:** Spoilers…are…_not allowed_!

**Storm:** So…it turns out that…_IT'S NOT DARKRAI, IT'S _DIALGA_ AND _PALKIA_ WHO ARE WRECKING HAVOC!_

_Storm begins to chase Dialga and Palkia while brandishing a Home-Run Bat in one paw and a frying pan in the other._

**Darkrai:** …Why must the chapter always end with Storm chasing one or two or all of us with a Home-Run Bat or a frying pan…?


	9. Death of a Hero

**Storm:** Chapter 8! Updated on the same day as Chapter 7! _*grins*_ You know, I think I'm going to update the rest of the story today_…_

**Darkrai:** Disclaimer: Storm Aurastar does not own Pokémon.

**Palkia:** Things in _italics_ are flashbacks.

**Dialga:** And please enjoy_…_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: Death of a Hero<strong>

The edges of the town were slowly disappearing. As Dialga and Palkia battled more, the town crumbled even more! Ash and his friends watched the destruction, unable to do anything to stop it.

Tonio gazed out at the view. "But what can I do?" he wondered out loud. Then he gasped when he suddenly remembered.

_"'It turns out that the nightmare told me just what I needed to do. For the future, I needed to leave Oración for the world…'_

"But it didn't say what Oración could _be_!" Tonio groaned, frustrated at this new obstacle.

Alice turned to face him. "Did you say…Oración?"

"Alice, you've heard of it?"

"Yes." She whipped her hand into her bag and pulled out the faded photo of Alicia and Godey. "Oración is the name of the song my grandmother taught me to play on the leaf whistle." She turned the paper to show the music with the S-like figure.

"That's it!" Tonio exclaimed. "Godey foretold that the disaster threatening the future left Oración for us!"

"The… The sound discs?"

Tonio nodded and turned to the Space-Time Towers. "Oración… The song with the power to soothe the fiercest rage…"

Ash's eyes widened as he listened. So _Oración_ was the key!

_Oración… It's gonna be all up to you now…_

-ooo-

As the people and their Pokémon entered the room with the mural of the little girl surrounded by the rival Pokémon, Tonio said, "There's no song named 'Oración' in the research lab, but it might be…_here_!"

Below the mural were wheels filled with music discs.

And more wheels.

And even more wheels.

"But which one's Oración?" yelled Ash.

"There are _so_ many!" cried Dawn.

Alice stood at the foot of the steps that lead to all the music discs. She closed her eyes and thought as the music of Oración echoed through her mind…

_An old woman name Alicia sat on the edge of the fountain with her granddaughter Alice. All around the two were many Pokémon that all listened to Alicia play a beautiful song that soothed their hearts._

_Alicia finished the song and looked at her granddaughter. "It's called Oración."_

_"Oración?" asked Alice._

_"That's right. It means, 'prayer.' My mother taught it to me a great many years ago."_

_Alice nodded, understanding now._

_"Promise me you'll always remember it," said Alicia._

_"Sure!" Alice agreed happily._

With a jolt, Alice snapped her eyes back open. She looked at the music and murmured, "Oración means 'prayer.'" She held up the photo. "Remember…"

Her eyes trailed down to the bottom of the mural where one particular wheel of discs was—and gasped. Taking a few steps back, she examined the figure that was on top of the disc. Then held up the photo to look at the figure at the bottom of the paper.

The figures were the same! They were the exact same elegant S-like symbol! And the disc with that symbol…was the one at the very top!

"_That's_ it!"

Ash and Tonio each picked a side of the disc wheel and began to spin it. They stopped when the Oración disc was within reach, and Ash pulled it out. "Got it!" he said triumphantly.

"Let's hurry to the Space-Time Towers!" urged Tonio.

"Right!"

Alice turned and tossed out a Poké Ball. "Chimchar, let's go!"

The little Fire-type Pokémon appeared in a flash of light. _"Chimchar!"_

-ooo-

Outside in the air, Dialga and Palkia's brawl was not getting any better. With a great _bam_, Palkia slammed into Dialga and knocked it down. Dialga tumbled down into the trees and landed with a _crash_!

Meanwhile, the townspeople were all in a line on the bridge, walking toward the garden. Brock, Sudowoodo, Nurse Joy, and Chansey were directing them to go on.

"That's it!" called the nurse. "Go back to the garden as far as you can!" Happiny hopped around, chanting, _"Happy! Happiny! Happy!"_

"And don't push!" Brock added. "Take it easy and stay calm!"

As Dialga stood up again after smashing into the ground, Palkia flew down and hurled out an Aura Sphere that missed Dialga, who had leaped into the air and countered with Draco Meteor.

_BAM! BOOM! BAM!_ The meteors slammed into Palkia—and toward the townspeople below!

But the Pokémon Trainers were already prepared for it. "Ready?" yelled Allegra.

_"GO!"_ shouted Maury and Kai. All together, Torterra, Empoleon, and Infernape released their moves—Bullet Seed, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower! The moves collided into the meteors and destroyed them!

Suddenly, one stray Draco Meteor shot down! Empoleon stumbled, Torterra fell over, Allegra ducked away, and Infernape had to jump up as fast as it could to dodge the meteor, leaving it to streak down towards…Croagunk!

But Croagunk was ready. It lifted its right hand, which was charged up with a Poison Jab, and punched the meteor.

The Draco Meteor pushed Croagunk back several feet, but the Pokémon did not give up. It kept its arm out, and at last, the meteor disappeared with a _bang_. _"Croagunk!"_ it croaked proudly.

Happiny was delighted. _"Happy! Happy!"_

_"Sudo!"_ cheered Sudowoodo.

"Way to go, Croagunk!" yelled Brock.

Then Nurse Joy and Chansey came along. "The evacuation's nearly complete," Nurse Joy told him. "I'm going to wait with the others at the rear end of the garden."

"Good. I'll handle things here."

"Thanks, Brock." She and Chansey ran off, leaving Brock and his Pokémon all alone.

Brock watched her go, then looked up at the Space-Time Towers. Anxiety gripped his heart as he murmured, "But Ash…and Dawn…"

-ooo-

_"Chaaaaaaar!"_

Chimchar breathed a plume of fire into Alice's hot-air balloon, making it rise higher and faster. Above them, the battle was getting no better.

Palkia flew between the towers, roaring, _"PARURURURURURU!"_ and throwing out an Aura Sphere. Dialga dodged it, and Darkrai suddenly appeared and blasted the Aura Sphere with a Dark Pulse.

_"Waaah!"_ The blast shook the balloon's basket with everyone inside it. Then Piplup, who was perched at the edge, lost its balance and fell. _"Piplup!"_ it shrieked.

Ash quickly pressed the button on a Poké Ball. Releasing the Pokémon inside it, he shouted, "Staravia, _let's go_!"

Staravia appeared, swooped down below Piplup, and caught it on its back. _"Staravia!"_ it chirped.

Ash and his friends watched as Staravia with Piplup riding on its back, soared above them and toward the top of the towers.

Dialga and Palkia paid no attention to the hot-air balloon as they continued to pursue each other around and around the towers. Darkrai followed close behind. _"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ bellowed Dialga, sending out Draco Meteor.

_"Aargh!"_ Darkrai retaliated with a second Dark Pulse. Most of the meteors were blocked, but several of them struck him. _"Aagh!"_ he groaned.

Then one of them hit the side of the balloon basket—and Dawn tumbled out! _"AHHHHH!"_

_"Dawn!"_ Ash reached for her and managed to grab her wrist.

But just then…

_"PARURURURURURU!"_ Palkia rushed by, causing the balloon to wildly fly around—and Dawn fell.

_"AHHHHHHH!"_ she screamed.

Luckily, she landed on a ledge of the spiraling staircase below.

Ash, Pikachu, Alice, and Tonio breathed a sigh of relief. They left Dawn and flew the balloon higher and higher, reaching for the top…

But their moment of relief did not last for long.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ Dialga whooshed past the balloon, and the basket rocked dangerously side to side. This time, Ash fell out with the Oración music disc, landed on the steep, stone edge of one of the towers, and slid down. "Ugh… Aagh… _Waah!"_ He jumped—just in time—and landed safely on the staircase beside Dawn. Thankfully, he didn't lose the precious music disc.

Staravia and Piplup landed on the railing of the ledge. _"Staravia!"_

The moment Piplup spotted its owner and friend, it hopped off Staravia's back and ran over to Dawn. _"Piplup!"_

Dawn grinned and knelt down, letting Piplup jump into her arms and hug her lovingly. Then she and Ash looked up.

_"Pika pika!"_ shouted Pikachu. It couldn't leave Ash all alone! It ran to the edge of the basket, took a flying leap, and landed on Staravia.

Tonio looked at Alice. "Alice!" She nodded and yelled, "Now! Chimchar, let's get moving!"

With a determined expression on its usually grinning face, Chimchar breathed another Flamethrower into the balloon. _"Chaaaaar!"_

Dialga's diamond glowed. The fan on its back extended, and it unleashed a Roar of Time at Palkia!

Palkia whirled around and saw the attack at the last moment. It flew aside, and the beam of temporal power rushed toward the balloon! Alice and Tonio tightly held one another's hands, waiting for the end…

Then another Pokémon appeared and protectively shielded the two people.

It was Darkrai!

_KABOOM!_

_"AAAAAGH!"_

The Roar of Time slammed into Darkrai and exploded, engulfing him and the balloon (which got wrecked in the process) in a thick cloud of smoke.

_"WAAAH!"_ yelped Tonio, falling out of the basket and disappearing into the smoke.

_"Tonio!"_ screamed Alice, left alone in the basket with Chimchar.

Ash, Pikachu, Staravia, Dawn, and Piplup gasped as the smoking balloon descended toward the ground below, Alice clutching onto the edge of the basket. "Oh!" she breathed, for she saw Darkrai plummeting down, too, from the smoke.

But there was no time to worry about him. Alice herself was in danger of falling!

As the balloon plunged down, Baron Alberto and Lickilicky arrived. Alberto saw the balloon, shouted, _"Alice!"_ and rushed toward her.

Preparing to jump off the wrecked balloon, Alice shouted, "Chimchar!" Her Pokémon

hopped off the railing and onto her shoulder.

Alberto chased after the balloon—and tripped. _"Waah!"_

Alice sprung out of the basket and ended up on the railing of the bridge. She flailed and began to fall off—

_Slurp!_ A long, sticky tongue wrapped around Alice's waist and stopped her fall.

It was Lickilicky! It began to tug Alice back up.

But its tongue was too slippery to hold on. Alice began to fall once again.

_"AHHHHH!"_

This time, somebody's hand caught her wrist and pulled her back up.

It was Tonio, who had been saved by his Drifblim! He pulled her up to safety, and he jumped off the railing and onto the sturdy bridge.

Releasing Drifblim, Tonio praised, "Excellent work!"

Alice's eyes filled with tears at the sight of her rescuer. "Tonio!" She jumped onto Tonio and hugged him as tightly as she could. Then she noticed Lickilicky watching her happily. "Oh, Baron! I owe you thanks as well!"

"Humph!" somebody snorted. "I'm over _here_!"

Alice, Tonio, Chimchar, and Lickilicky all turned around to see a dirty Baron Alberto scowling at them. Then they gasped at something behind him.

Alberto noticed their looks of terror, and he turned—and yelped.

The bridge was disintegrating!

_"Not agaaaaaain!"_

-ooo-

_Bang! Bang!_

In two flashes of light, Ash's Turtwig and Aipom appeared.

_"Turtwig!"_

_"Aipom!"_

"Turtwig! Aipom!" said Ash. "Watch my back, okay?"

The two Pokémon nodded.

Ash ran up the stairs with Pikachu and Piplup following him. "Dawn! Let's go!"

"Right!" She started after him. Staravia soared into the air, Turtwig followed after Dawn, and Aipom climbed up on the railing.

As the two Pokémon Trainers and their five Pokémon ran, climbed, or flew up and up and up the towers, the houses below were disappearing even faster than before! The whole Alamos Town was going to vanish into nonbeing! Only a small part of the town was left.

Panting, Ash and his friends went on with their mission. Dialga and Palkia continued to battle, despite their brawl causing the town to disappear even more. Just then, Dialga unleashed a flurry of Draco Meteors.

Dawn whirled around. "Here it comes!"

Turtwig and Aipom immediately jumped into their positions. With a combination of Razor Leaf and Swift, the meteors were stopped in their tracks.

"Way to go, you two!" said Ash as he marched up the stairs.

Now the garden was beginning to disintegrate. The fountains, trees, and pillars were being eaten away by the pink particles…

-ooo-

Brock had run into the garden to see Darkrai floating in a pool of water, knocked out. With a great effort, he and Quagsire dragged the Pokémon out of the water and onto the stone floor where Croagunk, Sudowoodo, Happiny, and several of the garden Pokémon were waiting worriedly.

Just then, Gallade arrived with Alice, Chimchar, and Tonio. The three of them ran to Darkrai, and Alice knelt down by his side. "Darkrai," she said softly.

Though Darkrai was knocked out, he could hear Alice's quiet voice echoing through his mind when he first met her face-to-face: "Darkrai, you all right?"

And he dreamed a memory of the past.

_The little girl hovered over Darkrai anxiously. She smiled faintly, then asked, "Are you hurt? Are you…in pain?"_

_Darkrai did not answer but gave a quiet groan._

_"Oh, you are!" the girl said sadly. Darkrai shut his eyes agonizingly._

_"I'll help you! Alicia will make you well!"_

_His eyes snapped open. _"Hmm?"

_The girl who called herself Alicia giggled. "Heehee!"_

Through the air soared Palkia, exhausted by the battle but nevertheless going on. _"PARURURURURURU!"_ it roared, slamming into Dialga, who attacked with a Hyper Beam that missed. Palkia flew high up into the sky, and Dialga furiously chased after it.

Brock and Tonio ran up the steps away from Alice, Darkrai, and the other Pokémon. "Huh?"

The edges of the garden began to crumble. Fleeing Combee raced away from the scene of terror. _"Combee! Combee!"_

Ash and his friends ran up the stairs even faster, for the steps themselves had begun to vanish! Outside, Staravia flew higher, and Aipom swung around and up on the walls.

Then the steps that Ash was about to step on disappeared into a puff of pink dust! "_What?_ Oh, no!"

Then Dawn had an idea. "Hold on!" She released her Buneary and Buizel from their Poké Balls and ordered, "Buizel, Water Gun! Buneary, Ice Beam!"

_"Bui!"_ A stream of water splashed onto the vanishing steps.

_"Buneary!"_ A beam of ice froze the water.

And the result?

Ice steps! The combination of Water Gun and Ice Beam had frozen the steps while they were disappearing, allowing the people and their Pokémon to go on without trouble.

"Perfect!" Dawn grinned.

"Great!" Ash slowly made his way up the icy steps. "Careful…"

Pikachu waved at Buneary approvingly. _"Pika pika!"_

Buneary, embarrassed by Pikachu's comment, hid its face in its fluffy fur. _"Bunny, buneary…"_

Down below in the garden, the Pokémon Trainers and their Pokémon were doing whatever they could to stop the pink particles from eating away any more of Alamos Town. Blasts of fire, water, and grass rammed into the particles from all directions!

_"Infeeeeer!"_

_"Empooooool!"_

_"Torterraaaaaaa!"_

Even the wild Pokémon that lived in the garden helped them. They released their strongest attacks on the particles.

"_Shiiiiiiiiiiinx!"_

"_Luxiooooooo!"_

"_Mariiiiiiiiiill!"_

"_Azumaaaaaaaar!"_

It seemed to be working, but they all knew that they could not hold it back forever…

-ooo-

Dialga roared and let loose a Hyper Beam that smashed into Palkia's protective shield. When the smoke cleared, Palkia let loose an Aura Sphere that struck Dialga right on its chest! Then the Temporal Pokémon flew out of the smoke and collided into the Spatial Pokémon, and the two of them roared angrily, their eyes glowing red with rage.

Brock, Tonio, Baron Alberto, Alice, and their Pokémon watched the scene in the sky. Darkrai was still unconscious.

Alice stood up with tears in her eyes. "Stop this _right now_!" she shouted.

That was when Darkrai jerked back awake. He was still having his flashback of the past…

_"You don't have to leave," Alicia told him. "You can stay here!"_

"Do you mean that?"_ Darkrai asked her quietly._

_"Of course!" she replied. "You can stay here for as long as you like!"_

_She broke into a wide grin._

_"This is _everyone's_ garden."_

-ooo-

Dialga's diamond glowed with a bright, blue light.

Palkia's pearls glowed with a bright, pink light.

Dialga roared and raised its head.

Palkia roared and raised its head.

Tonio's laptop beeped furiously.

"Oh, no!" gasped Tonio, looking fearfully up at the sky. "If those two collide one more time…"

Dialga and Palkia bellowed at each other, each one preparing to end the battle.

"…our dimension…_is through_!"

Alice simply stared—watching the two Pokémon summoning the finish.

A ripple in the water.

A gentle breeze.

A groan.

Then a quiet but determined growl.

Alice turned around—and gasped.

Darkrai was fully awake and alert. He rushed into the sky, straight past a stunned Brock and Tonio. _"Wha—?"_ they yelped.

Darkrai only had one thing in his mind now: Do not let them destroy the town!

Dialga opened its mouth and absorbed blue particles of temporal energy.

Palkia lifted its right arm and absorbed pink particles of spatial energy.

_"STOP!"_ shouted Darkrai. He flew between the two Pokémon and formed a strange, purple and black sphere around himself.

A Roar of Time shot out from one side. A Spacial Rend shot out from the other side. The two moves slammed into Darkrai's sphere and were absorbed.

Down below, all the people could hear Darkrai's cry of pain: _"AAAGH!"_

Then the sphere swelled and completely engulfed Dialga and Palkia!

Within the sphere, energy exploded. More of what was remaining of Alamos Town disintegrated into dust.

A section of the wall that surrounded the staircase crumbled away, allowing Ash, Dawn, and their Pokémon to see the sphere that Darkrai had made with Dialga and Palkia inside it. The two Pokémon Trainers stared with amazement and shock.

Then everybody—in the garden and on the staircase—heard Darkrai scream again.

This time, it wasn't a scream of pain.

_"THIS GARDEN IS _EVERYONE'S_!"_

"Darkrai," murmured Ash.

Suddenly, Dawn remembered. "The disc! _Let's hurry!_"

Ash responded with a single nod. "Okay." Looking over his shoulder, he called, "C'mon!"

Pikachu, Piplup, Turtwig, Buizel, and Buneary hurried after the two Trainers. Staravia flew on, and Aipom continued to swing along the railings. All of them ran even faster up the stairs than ever before!

Tonio's laptop was showing what Darkrai was doing. "Darkrai's blocking the explosion's energy, but…for how long?" he wondered. He and the others all turned their gaze back to the sphere in the sky.

Palkia grunted and grimaced on Darkrai's right. On his left, Dialga twitched around with its head down.

And between them, Darkrai was groaning with pain, struggling to block the damage…

Up and up the stairs, Ash and his friends went on with their mission. More of the towers were disappearing by the minute! As they ran, Buneary noticed that the stairs behind them were quickly disintegrating, so it froze them with an Ice Beam. _"Bunny!"_

Another explosion within the sphere sounded, more powerful than the last. Ash stumbled on the stairs. "Waah! _Aaah!_"

_Boom!_ The wall exploded into pink particles—and Ash fell out!

"Ash!" yelled Dawn. She reached down and caught his hand, but in the process, she lost her balance as well, and now she was hanging onto the railing for her dear life!

_"Piplup!"_ Her Pokémon grabbed her ankle and tried to pull her up. But just then, the railing that Dawn was holding onto disappeared!

_"AHHHHH!"_ she and Ash screamed.

But Buizel knew just what to do. Using Water Gun, it aimed at Ash, Dawn, and Piplup (who was still holding onto Dawn when she and Ash fell) and blasted them to a stone ledge above the Pokémon. They were saved!

"Ugh!" The two Trainers breathed a sigh of relief. They laughed a little when they realized what had happened. Ash looked down and called, "Buizel, thanks a lot!"

_"Bui bui!"_ it replied cheerfully.

Staravia flew by. _"Staravia!"_ it cooed.

Buneary began to hop up the steps, and Buizel ran after it.

"Hey, Pikachu!" yelled Ash. "Take care of everyone!"

_"Pika pika!"_ With that, Pikachu turned to Turtwig, Buneary, and Buizel, and it waved them on like the commander of an army. _"Pikachu!"_

Ash and Dawn watched them go, then nodded together. They and Piplup ran off and up the towers. There was still a just a little bit more to go, and the town was nearly all gone…

Ash, Dawn, and Piplup ran past the huge, swinging pendulums, which had begun to crumble. Ash knew that there wasn't much time left, for if the towers themselves were gone, they were all doomed!

In the spiraling staircase, Pikachu, Turtwig, Buneary, and Buizel ran on, determined to reach their Trainers safely.

_BOOM!_ Another explosion sounded within the sphere, and more of the town disintegrated.

And the sphere was shrinking.

_"PARU…"_ Palkia shook itself out of the sphere.

_"DIARU…"_ Dialga pulled itself out.

Ash didn't notice anything as he raced past a window, but Dawn did. "Huh? Ash, come back!" He did, and he gasped at the spectacle outside in the sky.

As each second passed, Darkrai's sphere grew weaker and weaker and shrunk until it disappeared.

And Darkrai was screaming with agony. His eyes were shut tightly as he groaned.

_"AAAGH! URGH! _AAAAAGH!_"_

Brock, Sudowoodo, Happiny, Alice, Chimchar, and Tonio, watched with anxiety. Then their expressions of worry turned into expressions of horror.

Dialga and Palkia, who were both fed up with their interference, lashed out with Hyper Beam and Aura Sphere.

The two moves raced toward Darkrai, but he bravely stayed there and let the moves hit him.

_KABOOM!_

A humongous cloud of smoke and fire puffed out.

_"Aaaagh!"_ yelled the people and their Pokémon in the garden.

_"Ugh!"_ groaned Ash and Dawn in the towers.

Then from the cloud of the dust and smoke shot out Darkrai.

And he was disappearing into dust.

Everybody knew what was happening as they helplessly watched.

Alice, with tears spilling out of her wide eyes, screamed, "Darkrai, _no_!"

As Darkrai flew higher into the sky, he used all his remaining strength to gaze down upon the young woman whose grandmother was the first to open his heart and befriend him.

And he was gone.

Gone.

_Gone._

Darkrai—the one who was so falsely accused of wrecking havoc—the one who had so courageously fought off the deities of time and space—the one who had so bravely protected Alamos Town and its people until the end—was no more.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> _…_Holy Arceus_…_

**Dialga:** Darkrai_…_ He died_…_

**Palkia:** _*grimly*_ _…_Because of us_…_

**Storm:** _*looking up at the sky*_ Darkrai_…_


	10. The Gift of Godey

**Storm:** Here is Chapter 9_…_

**Dialga:** Storm does not own Pokémon_…_

**Palkia:** Please enjoy_…_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: The Gift of Godey<strong>

Dawn was stunned. "But how…?"

As the Pokémon in the staircase watched the particles float away, they felt thunderstruck.

But Dialga and Palkia were merciless.

_"PARURURURURURU!"_

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Both of them sounded triumphant about their victory of destroying Darkrai…

"Oh…" The people in the garden were shocked—especially Alice. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she stared at the place where Darkrai had disappeared.

-ooo-

Ash, Dawn, and Piplup ran even faster than ever before, Oración clutched tightly in Ash's arms. They rushed through the corridors and halls, determination burning in their hearts—especially in Ash's.

"I'm not going to let Darkrai down now!" he shouted firmly as he hurried on.

At long last, the group of three reached the music room and dashed up the stairs to the machine. At the same time, Pikachu and its team of Pokémon arrived from their tiring run up the stairs.

"Pikachu!" said Ash as he and Dawn hurried by.

_"Pika pika!"_

When Piplup came along, Pikachu saw that it was sweating. _"Piplup… Pip… Piplup…"_

Ash pressed down the pedal with his foot, and a music disc popped out. Dawn took it, and Ash put in the Oración disc.

Or at least he _tried_ to.

It was too large!

"It won't fit!" yelped Ash.

Dawn was shocked. _"Oh!"_

-ooo-

Dialga and Palkia's battle was raging even worse than ever before. With a great _bam_, they slammed into each other, even though they were already very exhausted.

_"PARURURURURU!"_ Palkia flew back in the air.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ Dialga spun around in circles, shoved away.

Now both of them were thinking of the same thing.

Palkia's pearls glowed pink. _"PARURURURURURURURURU!"_

Dialga's diamond glowed blue. _"DIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

They were preparing to release the biggest Roar of Time and Spacial Rend ever in the history of Pokémon!

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_ Tonio's laptop beeped urgently.

"This is it." Tonio was hopeless. "If those two collide once more…" He looked up. "…then it's over for _all_ of us!"

Brock, Alice, and Baron Alberto were stunned. _"No!"_

Brock gnashed his teeth together, feeling helplessly frustrated as he watched Dialga and Palkia charge up their destructive moves. Then he turned around to face the Space-Time Towers. "But Ash…and Dawn… _Please_ get there in time!" he prayed out loud, hope brimming in his heart. He knew that he and the others were going to need it—_very_ badly.

-ooo-

Up in the music room, Ash was frantic. "This _is_ Oración, isn't it?"

"It _must_ be!" cried Dawn.

Ash put the disc aside to stare at the hollow where Oración couldn't fit in…

Then Dawn noticed the back of Oración. It was shaped like a four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She looked at the center of the disc wheel. There was a four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She gasped and looked back at Oración's back.

The two patterns were exactly the same!

Just to make sure, Dawn looked again. A four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She grinned. "Try the one in the middle!" she suggested.

"Huh?" Ash looked at the hollow in the center of the disc wheel. Then he flipped over the disc and realized what she meant. "Ah!"

Ash reached over and inserted the disc. It fitted with a loud _click_. "It's in!"

"All right!" cheered Dawn. Then the two went over to the lever and grasped the handle together…and _pulled_. Gritting their teeth, they pulled as hard as they could. Their Pokémon stood behind them, hoping for the best…

_Clank._

Blue lightning sparked between the two electrodes…but there was so _little_ of it… The gears didn't turn, and the gauges showed that there was barely enough power!

"Wha…?" Ash, Dawn, and the Pokémon looked around with confused faces.

And then the horrible truth dawned upon them.

"The power!"

"It's _dead_."

-ooo-

Down below them in the room with the mural of the girl and the rival Pokémon, the things in there were disintegrating! Little by little, the mural was being eaten away…

Palkia's right forearm glowed with a bright, pink light as it absorbed spatial energy. Blue, temporal energy swirled in Dialga's mouth, and it roared and raised its head.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Too late!" cried Tonio.

_"No!"_ gasped Brock, Alice, and Alberto.

-ooo-

By now, only a tiny portion of the town was remaining.

And it was disappearing even more by the minute!

_"Staravia!"_ chirped Staravia as it flew Pikachu to the right side of the electrodes.

_Bang!_ Pachirisu was released from its Poké Ball hopped onto the left side.

"Pachirisu! Discharge!"

_"Pa!"_ Pachirisu sent out a burst of blue electricity. _"Chiiiiiiiiiiiii!"_

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt! _Full blast!_"

Pikachu concentrated as hard as it could…and it released the most powerful Thunderbolt it had ever done in its entire life. _"Chuuuuuuuuuu!"_

Two lightning bolts—one from Pachirisu and one from Pikachu—struck the electrodes.

On the ground, everybody clenched their fists and watched determinedly.

Pikachu and Pachirisu unleashed their electricity, making it as strong as they could.

_"CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I!"_

_"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU U!"_

_Please, please, please, please, _please_,_ Ash begged, _please let it work…_

-ooo-

_Ash… Dawn…_

Brock gazed at the Space-Time Towers, his heart beating a million anxiety-filled beats a minute.

_Ash…and Dawn… Please don't fail…_

_But if you do…then it's over for all of us, just like what Godey said._

_And, even worse…_

_…we'll never be able to see Darkrai again._

-ooo-

Team Rocket, huddled under a peach tree in the garden with all the other townspeople, turned to each other.

"I think it's over for us," Jessie groaned.

"It's time to say good-bye," James moaned.

"Hey, I think I know what dat means," Meowth said.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

-ooo-

_Come on,_ Ash thought furiously. "COME ON!" he bellowed.

Though Pikachu's ears were filled with the din of screaming and roaring, it heard its master and friend.

And thought it was close to collapsing in tiredness, it gave its already-up-to-the-limit Thunderbolt a huge boost.

_"PIKAAAAA…CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"_

The gauges' pointers pointed to the full power area. The huge gears turned.

_BONG… Ding… DONG…_

It worked.

The Discharge and Thunderbolt combination worked!

The moment Palkia heard the chimes, its arm stopped charging power, and it slowly lowered it. The same thing went for Dialga; it stopped charging the power in its mouth, and the fan on its back shrunk back to its normal size.

The Space-Time Towers glowed with a beautiful golden sheen. In the garden, everybody—Ash's friends, the townspeople, their Pokémon, Team Rocket, and the wild Pokémon of the garden—watched and listened with awe.

And the music started.

It was even more beautiful and soothing on the towers' chimes than on Alice's leaf whistle. Dialga and Palkia hovered in midair, listening to it. The music was also so powerful that even what remained of Alamos Town stopped disintegrating into the pink particles.

Pikachu, all out of energy now, stopped its Thunderbolt. Then it perked up its ears at the calming sound of Oración. _"Pika?"_

Even the insides of the towers were glowing gold! Ash and Dawn were stunned with astonishment. _"Aw…"_

Then from the sides of the towers sprouted curved branches with rounded and pointy ends… Then little golden flowers grew out of the branches.

Ash and his friends walked outside onto the ledge, staring with awe. Their Pokémon were stunned by the sight and smiled at each other.

The Space-Time Towers emitted a bright, golden dust. Dialga and Palkia turned around and watched it, amazed by the sight.

_"Wow,"_ gasped the townspeople in the garden in unison.

Then the dust suddenly sprouted into gigantic, wing-like structures. The glow of the wings was so bright that it nearly blinded everybody! The wings gently flapped in the air, filling the sky with golden dust.

Bathed in the golden light, Dialga growled at the sound of the peace-making music. Palkia hovered soundlessly and motionlessly in the air—and its cracked, left pearl glowed briefly with a pale green light before healing itself.

"That's it," breathed Tonio. "That's Oración!"

Alice took out the photo and looked at the backside to see the music. Then she flipped it over to stare at young Alicia and Godey.

Her eyes welled with tears—joyful tears. She looked back up at the glowing towers. She was so moved by the music of Oración…and so thankful that Godey had created this for them…

Ash and his friends were still on the railing, listening and watching with awe. The wings continued to wave around in the air, covering everything with a golden light. Then the wings shrunk into the remains of Alamos Town…and the town—the _entire_ town—was instantly rebuilt by the golden dust!

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Palkia turned to see its rival roaring and watched it without moving a muscle. Dialga stared back. The same message was in their eyes:

_This is a peaceful moment._

Dialga roared again and flew past Palkia, who quietly watched it leave. Then Dialga vanished from the dimension in a flash of blue light.

"Ah…" gasped Ash and Dawn.

Then Buizel noticed something else. It turned its head and yelped, _"Bui bui!"_

Palkia was flying toward the group on the ledge. It bent down its head and growled something that sounded like an apology.

The chimes clanked. The tower creaked. The song was finished.

"Aargh!" Ash ran toward Palkia, infuriated. "Palkia! Can't you see what you've done?" He lowered his head. "You destroyed the whole town… All the…Pokémon…" Then he lifted his head again and angrily shouted, "You bring this back to the way it was!"

"You've _got_ to do it!" Dawn urged. "Palkia, _please_!"

_"Pikachu!"_

Palkia gazed at them for a moment, considering its choice. All of a sudden, it threw back its head and reared up. _"PARURURURURURU!"_

Waves of pink spatial energy surged out of Palkia's body, rushing through the town.

Then Alamos Town was warped away.

Out of the air.

Out of the dimension.

Through a portal.

And back home.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> Now _that_ was incredibly short.

**Dialga:** _The Gift of Godey_… This chapter's title makes perfect sense.

**Palkia:** The gift was Oración! And it stopped our battle right at the last possible second!

**Storm:** Good! And please wait for Chapter 10 to come out. It's coming in a few moments. _*grins*_

Games » Pokémon » **The Rise of Darkrai**

Author: Storm Aurastar

Rated: K+ - English - Adventure/Mystery - Reviews: 3 - Published: 06-12-11 - Updated: 07-09-11

id:7075276

**Storm:** Here is Chapter 9_…_

**Dialga:** Storm does not own Pokémon_…_

**Palkia:** Please enjoy_…_I think_…_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: The Gift of Godey<strong>

Dawn was stunned. "But how…?"

As the Pokémon in the staircase watched the particles float away, they felt thunderstruck.

But Dialga and Palkia were merciless.

_"PARURURURURURU!"_

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Both of them sounded triumphant about their victory of destroying Darkrai…

"Oh…" The people in the garden were shocked—especially Alice. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she stared at the place where Darkrai had disappeared.

-ooo-

Ash, Dawn, and Piplup ran even faster than ever before, Oración clutched tightly in Ash's arms. They rushed through the corridors and halls, determination burning in their hearts—especially in Ash's.

"I'm not going to let Darkrai down now!" he shouted firmly as he hurried on.

At long last, the group of three reached the music room and dashed up the stairs to the machine. At the same time, Pikachu and its team of Pokémon arrived from their tiring run up the stairs.

"Pikachu!" said Ash as he and Dawn hurried by.

_"Pika pika!"_

When Piplup came along, Pikachu saw that it was sweating. _"Piplup… Pip… Piplup…"_

Ash pressed down the pedal with his foot, and a music disc popped out. Dawn took it, and Ash put in the Oración disc.

Or at least he _tried_ to.

It was too large!

"It won't fit!" yelped Ash.

Dawn was shocked. _"Oh!"_

-ooo-

Dialga and Palkia's battle was raging even worse than ever before. With a great _bam_, they slammed into each other, even though they were already very exhausted.

_"PARURURURURU!"_ Palkia flew back in the air.

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAA!"_ Dialga spun around in circles, shoved away.

Now both of them were thinking of the same thing.

Palkia's pearls glowed pink. _"PARURURURURURURURURU!"_

Dialga's diamond glowed blue. _"DIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

They were preparing to release the biggest Roar of Time and Spacial Rend ever in the history of Pokémon!

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_ Tonio's laptop beeped urgently.

"This is it." Tonio was hopeless. "If those two collide once more…" He looked up. "…then it's over for _all_ of us!"

Brock, Alice, and Baron Alberto were stunned. _"No!"_

Brock gnashed his teeth together, feeling helplessly frustrated as he watched Dialga and Palkia charge up their destructive moves. Then he turned around to face the Space-Time Towers. "But Ash…and Dawn… _Please_ get there in time!" he prayed out loud, hope brimming in his heart. He knew that he and the others were going to need it—_very_ badly.

-ooo-

Up in the music room, Ash was frantic. "This _is_ Oración, isn't it?"

"It _must_ be!" cried Dawn.

Ash put the disc aside to stare at the hollow where Oración couldn't fit in…

Then Dawn noticed the back of Oración. It was shaped like a four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She looked at the center of the disc wheel. There was a four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She gasped and looked back at Oración's back.

The two patterns were exactly the same!

Just to make sure, Dawn looked again. A four-petaled flower with four smaller petals…

She grinned. "Try the one in the middle!" she suggested.

"Huh?" Ash looked at the hollow in the center of the disc wheel. Then he flipped over the disc and realized what she meant. "Ah!"

Ash reached over and inserted the disc. It fitted with a loud _click_. "It's in!"

"All right!" cheered Dawn. Then the two went over to the lever and grasped the handle together…and _pulled_. Gritting their teeth, they pulled as hard as they could. Their Pokémon stood behind them, hoping for the best…

_Clank._

Blue lightning sparked between the two electrodes…but there was so _little_ of it… The gears didn't turn, and the gauges showed that there was barely enough power!

"Wha…?" Ash, Dawn, and the Pokémon looked around with confused faces.

And then the horrible truth dawned upon them.

"The power!"

"It's _dead_."

-ooo-

Down below them in the room with the mural of the girl and the rival Pokémon, the things in there were disintegrating! Little by little, the mural was being eaten away…

Palkia's right forearm glowed with a bright, pink light as it absorbed spatial energy. Blue, temporal energy swirled in Dialga's mouth, and it roared and raised its head.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Too late!" cried Tonio.

_"No!"_ gasped Brock, Alice, and Alberto.

-ooo-

By now, only a tiny portion of the town was remaining.

And it was disappearing even more by the minute!

_"Staravia!"_ chirped Staravia as it flew Pikachu to the right side of the electrodes.

_Bang!_ Pachirisu was released from its Poké Ball hopped onto the left side.

"Pachirisu! Discharge!"

_"Pa!"_ Pachirisu sent out a burst of blue electricity. _"Chiiiiiiiiiiiii!"_

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt! _Full blast!_"

Pikachu concentrated as hard as it could…and it released the most powerful Thunderbolt it had ever done in its entire life. _"Chuuuuuuuu!"_

Two lightning bolts—one from Pachirisu and one from Pikachu—struck the electrodes.

On the ground, everybody clenched their fists and watched determinedly.

Pikachu and Pachirisu unleashed their electricity, making it as strong as they could.

_"CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I!"_

_"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU U!"_

_Please, please, please, please, _please_,_ Ash begged, _please let it work…_

-ooo-

_Ash… Dawn…_

Brock gazed at the Space-Time Towers, his heart beating a million anxiety-filled beats a minute.

_Ash…and Dawn… Please don't fail…_

_But if you do…then it's over for all of us, just like what Godey said._

_And, even worse…_

_…we'll never be able to see Darkrai again._

-ooo-

Team Rocket, huddled under a peach tree in the garden with all the other townspeople, turned to each other.

"I think it's over for us," Jessie groaned.

"It's time to say good-bye," James moaned.

"Hey, I think I know what dat means," Meowth said.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

-ooo-

_Come on,_ Ash thought furiously. "COME ON!"

Though Pikachu's ears were filled with the din of screaming and roaring, it heard its master and friend.

And thought it was close to collapsing in tiredness, it gave its already-up-to-the-limit Thunderbolt a huge boost.

_"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"_

The gauges' pointers pointed to the full power area. The huge gears turned.

_BONG… Ding… DONG…_

It worked.

The Discharge and Thunderbolt combination worked!

The moment Palkia heard the chimes, its arm stopped charging power, and it slowly lowered it. The same thing went for Dialga; it stopped charging the power in its mouth, and the fan on its back shrunk back to its normal size.

The Space-Time Towers glowed with a beautiful golden sheen. In the garden, everybody—Ash's friends, the townspeople, their Pokémon, Team Rocket, and the wild Pokémon of the garden—watched and listened with awe.

And the music started.

It was even more beautiful and soothing on the towers' chimes than on Alice's leaf whistle. Dialga and Palkia hovered in midair, listening to it. The music was also so powerful that even what remained of Alamos Town stopped disintegrating into the pink particles.

Pikachu, all out of energy now, stopped its Thunderbolt. Then it perked up its ears at the calming sound of Oración. _"Pika?"_

Even the insides of the towers were glowing gold! Ash and Dawn were stunned with astonishment. _"Aw…"_

Then from the sides of the towers sprouted curved branches with rounded and pointy ends… Then little golden flowers grew out of the branches.

Ash and his friends walked outside onto the ledge, staring with awe. Their Pokémon were stunned by the sight and smiled at each other.

The Space-Time Towers emitted a bright, golden dust. Dialga and Palkia turned around and watched it, amazed by the sight.

_"Wow,"_ gasped the townspeople in the garden in unison.

Then the dust suddenly sprouted into gigantic, wing-like structures. The glow of the wings was so bright that it nearly blinded everybody! The wings gently flapped in the air, filling the sky with golden dust.

Bathed in the golden light, Dialga growled at the sound of the peace-making music. Palkia hovered soundlessly and motionlessly in the air—and its cracked, left pearl glowed briefly with a pale green light before healing itself.

"That's it," breathed Tonio. "That's Oración!"

Alice took out the photo and looked at the backside to see the music. Then she flipped it over to stare at young Alicia and Godey.

Her eyes welled with tears—joyful tears. She looked back up at the glowing towers. She was so moved by the music of Oración…and so thankful that Godey had created this for them…

Ash and his friends were still on the railing, listening and watching with awe. The wings continued to wave around in the air, covering everything with a golden light. Then the wings shrunk into the remains of Alamos Town…and the town—the _entire_ town—was instantly rebuilt by the golden dust!

_"DIAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Palkia turned to see its rival roaring and watched it without moving a muscle. Dialga stared back. The same message was in their eyes:

_This is a peaceful moment._

Dialga roared again and flew past Palkia, who quietly watched it leave. Then Dialga vanished from the dimension in a flash of blue light.

"Ah…" gasped Ash and Dawn.

Then Buizel noticed something else. It turned its head and yelped, _"Bui bui!"_

Palkia was flying toward the group on the ledge. It bent down its head and growled something that sounded like an apology.

The chimes clanked. The tower creaked. The song was finished.

"Aargh!" Ash ran toward Palkia, infuriated. "Palkia! Can't you see what you've done?" He lowered his head. "You destroyed the whole town… All the…Pokémon…" Then he lifted his head again and angrily shouted, "You bring this back to the way it was!"

"You've _got_ to do it!" Dawn urged. "Palkia, _please_!"

_"Pikachu!"_

Palkia gazed at them for a moment, considering its choice. All of a sudden, it threw back its head and reared up. _"PARURURURURURU!"_

Waves of pink spatial energy surged out of Palkia's body, rushing through the town.

Then Alamos Town was warped away.

Out of the air.

Out of the dimension.

Through a portal.

And back home.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> Now _that_ was incredibly short.

**Dialga:** _The Gift of Godey_… This chapter's title makes perfect sense.

**Palkia:** The gift was Oración! And it stopped our battle right at the last possible second!

**Storm:** Good! And please wait for Chapter 10 to come out. It's coming in a few moments. _*grins*_


	11. The Rise of Darkrai

**Storm:** Chapter 10 is here!

**Dialga:** Disclaimer: Storm Aurastar does _not_ own Pokémon, which belongs to Nintendo and Game Freak, Inc., and whatever other company I missed.

**Palkia:** Please enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: The Rise of Darkrai<strong>

A blanket of clouds. Then a burst of golden light. Ash shut his eyes to shield them from the bright flare.

When he reopened them, he didn't see the blackness. He didn't see wispy, gray clouds that swirled around in the air. He didn't see Dialga. He didn't see Palkia.

What he did see was sunshine. A blue sky. A huge, sparkling lake down below. Hundreds of houses. Even more green trees. A pond filled with water. And—could it be _possible_?—a town on a plateau.

He and his friends were back. Alamos Town was back!

_They were back home!_

"We're back!" exclaimed Dawn. She and Ash and their Pokémon were still on the ledge of the Space-Time Towers.

Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder to watch the view. Thank goodness! Palkia had returned them to their home dimension!

Piplup was overjoyed to be home safe and sound. _"Piplup!"_

_"Pikachu!"_

"Hahaha!" Ash and Dawn laughed together, side by side on the ledge high up in the air. Then they turned back to the beautiful scene.

Down below at the edge of the garden, Brock, Sudowoodo, Happiny, Alice, Chimchar, Tonio, Baron Alberto, Lickilicky, and Gallade laughed, feeling carefree. They were home again! They couldn't believe it, but it was true. Palkia had warped them home!

When they stopped chuckling, Brock held up his Happiny and cuddled it. "Hey!" he said cheerfully. Sudowoodo danced around, glad to be out of that black, lightning-filled dimension that Dialga and Palkia had just fought in.

Alice and Tonio turned to look at each other. They smiled and nodded.

Just then, Nurse Joy, Chansey, and all the townspeople flooded out of the garden.

_"Chansey!"_ cried a happy Chansey.

"Oh!" breathed Nurse Joy, She couldn't believe her eyes.

Maury, Kai, and Allegra joined her. They joined the nurse and stared down, grinning hugely from ear to ear, relieved and grateful to be back home and out of the foreign dimension.

The townspeople, bursting with delight and joy, raced past her. All of them had the same thought in their minds: "We're back! We're home!"

Everybody rushed through the town, screaming, "We're back! Hey, we're _home_! Yep, it's true! Thank goodness! Hello, people! Home, sweet home! _Yahoo!_"

Ash and Dawn made their way back down the towers with their Pokémon—on foot. But who cared about that? After all, everybody was gushing with happiness, and who would care if their feet were exhausted after walking down the hundreds of steps of the towers that had just saved their lives when they were only _inches_ away from a catastrophic finale? The answer was obvious—_nobody_!

Children rushed out onto the streets, shouting with happiness. Mothers laughed and chatted. Fathers had conversations with their friends. Pokémon flew, ran, and splashed around, happy and carefree. Like the townspeople and the Pokémon Trainers, they were all glad to be home—especially the wild Pokémon who lived in the Alamos Town garden.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the garden, Team Rocket was celebrating.

"We made it!" Jessie cheered.

"Yes, that's right!" James agreed.

"Talk 'bout gettin' saved at da las' minute!" Meowth added.

"No need to worry about stealing Pikachu now!"

"We can just be happy!"

"And enjoy being home!"

"An' save da Pokémon-snaggin' fo' later!"

Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, and Piplup (the two Trainers had put back their Pokémon into their Poké Balls for a nice, good rest) rushed over to Brock, Alice, and Tonio (who was still grasping onto his laptop even though there was nothing to research, much less anything to worry about).

"We're back!" shouted Ash. He shot his fist into the air. _"Yeah!"_

"Thank goodness!" cried Brock. He looked at the sky, cupped his mouth, and yelled, "Hey! Thanks, Palkia!"

He was certain that he could hear a bellowing roar from the sky, far in the distance.

Alice cuddled Chimchar. "This was all Godey's doing," she said. "Godey was the one who created the Oración disc in the first place! Thank you, Godey."

"Yeah," agreed Dawn. "If he hadn't made it, we would've all been _goners_!" She shuddered at the thought. "And since Dialga and Palkia are both such powerful Pokémon, their battle could've destroyed the entire _universe_!"

Brock nodded. "Wow, I never knew Oración was _that_ powerful—so powerful that it could calm down two deities like Dialga and Palkia! Amazing!"

"It sounded so _rejuvenating_!" said Tonio. "Well, we're back, and everything's been restored by Palkia so we don't have to worry about a thing! I'm going to put back my laptop in the research lab… Alice? What's wrong?"

Alice had tears in her eyes. "We _do_ have to worry about one thing…"

Misery suddenly engulfed the group. "Oh."

Ash swallowed and nodded with difficulty. "Yeah." He looked up into the clouds. "Darkrai is no longer with us…"

With that, the five people, Pikachu, and Piplup turned and walked to the garden to mourn with wild Pokémon that lived there.

-ooo-

That evening, as the sun went down and the sky faded into a yellowish-orange hue, Ash and his friends went to the front of the towers to face the cliff wall and watch the town from above. All of them were filled with sadness and grief at the loss of Darkrai.

Alice's eyes glistened with tears. "Thank you, Darkrai…" She slowly closed her eyes.

_Darkrai rushed through the air and was blasted back by the bubble between the Space-Time Towers. He hurtled through the air and crashed into the ground, only to reappear five seconds later to attack…_

_Alice stared numbly at the falling Dialga and Palkia, petrified to the ground by her fear, when Darkrai suddenly arrived to blast the two Pokémon out of the way and back into the sky, saving Alice from the danger of being crushed…_

_A combination of Aura Sphere and Hyper Beam from Dialga and Palkia slammed into Darkrai. A cloud of smoke puffed out, and Darkrai shot out of the cloud and crash-landed into the garden pond where Brock pulled him out. Alice arrived and knelt by his side, concerned…_

_When Alice and Tonio, who were had managed to stay on the partially destroyed hot-air balloon, were about to get hit by Dialga's Roar of Time, Darkrai suddenly appeared and bravely took the blow, shielding most of the damage…_

_Alice and the others were helplessly watching Dialga and Palkia charge up their most destructive moves when Darkrai, who was unconscious just a moment ago, unexpectedly rushed into the air, created the strange sphere around himself, and blocked most of the damage by absorbing the moves…_

_Dialga and Palkia, angered even more by their interference, mercilessly attacked Darkrai with a Hyper Beam and an Aura Sphere, which slammed into him…and he floated into the air, disintegrating into dust…until he was no more._

"…for _everything_," finished Alice. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

_"Piplup,"_ said Piplup sadly. It stared at the trees below, thinking of the time when it met Darkrai face-to-face for the first time and realized his true nature at last.

Ash slowly lowered his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured sorrowfully. Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio looked at him. "Darkrai… I should've known! You were just trying to do the right thing! _Ugh!_" He began to cry.

_"Pika?"_ asked Pikachu quietly.

Dawn began to cry, too. She hugged her Piplup even tighter as she sobbed.

Tonio comfortingly placed his hand on Alice's shoulder. She looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked away.

_"Chimchar…"_ Chimchar hopped off the railing and followed Alice, who was walking with Tonio, who had put his arm around her. Then Dawn and Brock went after them.

Ash was the last one to follow. He took one last look at the trees down below before walking after his friends with Pikachu perched on his shoulder.

A shadow appeared at the top of the towers' shadows on the cliff wall.

Pikachu was the first one to see it. _"Pikachu?"_

Ash stopped walking and looked at where Pikachu was goggling at—and gasped with shock. "What the—?"

At the sound of the shock in his voice, Dawn, Brock, Alice, and Tonio turned around, too.

Ash ran back to the railing and stared with awe at the cliff wall. The others came rushing over, and they all gaped at the sight.

On the wall, they saw a familiar, ominous-looking shadow standing on the top of the shadow of the dome between the two towers' shadows.

"Wha…?" They slowly turned around and let their eyes trail upward.

There, standing proudly on the dome, was _him_.

_"Piplup!"_ cheered Piplup.

"Darkrai!" cried Dawn.

Ash felt positively overjoyed as he exclaimed, "Darkrai, you're okay!"

_"Pika pika!"_ added Pikachu joyfully.

Brock continued to stare at Darkrai with a smile that stretched a mile.

Alice smiled at the sight of Alamos Town's hero. Then she did something to Tonio that was the last thing he would think of.

She cuddled lovingly next to him.

Tonio gave a start of surprise. Then he blushed, grinned sheepishly, and rolled his eyes up at the sky.

Ash grinned at Pikachu. The hero was back! Darkrai had risen again!

The hero of Alamos Town continued to stand motionlessly on top of the dome when he looked down and spotted Alice smiling at him. A flame of affection for her suddenly lit up within his heart.

Darkrai watched her for several moments before looking back to the town below him. He saw the townspeople happily strolling around, shopping, playing, chatting, and laughing with their Pokémon.

He turned his gaze to the garden. Watching him were Gallade, Shinx, Luxio, Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, and many other Pokémon who all smiled at each other at the return of their hero.

Darkrai looked out at the view, his eyes gleaming with a bright, blue light. He knew that if Dialga and Palkia ever came back and had another chaotic battle, he would be there to protect the people, the Pokémon, and all of Alamos Town.

He would be there to be the town's guardian.

He would be there to keep everybody safe.

And he would be there to remain as Alice's friend.

Forever and ever.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm:<strong> _*shoots his fist into the air and starts dancing*_ YESSSSSS! DARKRAI'S BACK—THAT'S SO AWESOME—OH, YEAH—WOOHOO—AND THAT WAS THE LAST CHAPTER—OH, YEAH!

**Darkrai:** _*stares at Storm*_ …Did you eat a sack of sugar or something?

**Storm:** …LIKE, SO AWESOMELY _AWE_—wait, what? Oh! Sorry. I'm just…uh…

**Dialga:** How about "celebrating"?

**Storm:** Yeah! I'm just celebrating your revival! _*starts dancing again*_ OH, YEAH! SO GREAT!

**Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai:** _*sweatdrop*_ …Er…

**Storm:** _*suddenly stops dancing*_ Hey, wait! Hey, people and Pokémon and whatever! Did you enjoy _The Rise of Darkrai_? If you did, please review! _*grins sneakily*_ And by the way…if you want…there…will…be…some…bonus…chapters…

**Dialga:** …Bonus chapters…

* * *

><p><strong><em>A MESSAGE TO ALL READERS OF <em>****THE RISE OF DARKRAI**** FROM STORM AURASTAR:**

All right, all right, I admit it. This story was practically exactly the same as the movie…

But to make things a little bit different, I could add some bonus chapters if you want…

So review me and tell me if you'd like them or not! Personally, I would!

See you,

~Storm Aurastar


End file.
